Pierrot
by dark1408
Summary: The exorcists are slowly losing their faith in the Black Order, seeing how Allen was forcefully appointed a General. Why is Kanda so concerned about Allen's deteriorating health? Yullen
1. Chapter 1

**Yet another Yullen story, but this time there ain't no mutations of characters. ;) Allen and Kanda are guys, so no gender twists in this story! I hope you guys read and review this one too!**

**Thank you to Niamh/N. for being my beta reader! I ended up posting it today after all. XD**

**DISCLAIMER: -man does not belong to me, or I would've made more Yullen scenes. **

**WARNING: Yaoi. No lemon...yet. I think? :D And possible spoilers of a few characters if you're only following the anime.**

* * *

**1. Where hate begins**

"We should send out exorcists to go after the remaining Noah immediately." The deep, strong voice of Inspector Leverrier said, his eyes glaring at the Supervisor. "We must strike now, the Earl is gone, and they are our biggest concern at the moment."

Allen Walker sat on the couch opposite Komui's desk, together with General Cloud and Cross. General Tiedoll sat further to his left, while General Sokoro stood near the door. This meeting was like the many previous ones they had since the Ark battle, and the contents were also the same.

Send some exorcists after the Noah.

It wasn't exactly a wise decision, considering the fact that their numbers were halved, if not worse. The Generals had been looking far and wide since then, hoping to increase the number of exorcists, even if just by one. So far, there had been five new recruits, which pleased Leverrier, thankfully.

"Sending the exorcists to chase after the Noah will be like sending them to their deaths!" Komui protested, clearly angered. "Our numbers have decreased dramatically since the previous battle, do you wish to sacrifice more of them?"

Leverrier continued to glare at Komui, completely unfazed by his comment. His snake-like stare could get any other person to back down, but at the moment, Komui was far more worried about his exorcists' safety. "And on whose behalf, are you speaking for?" he said slowly, his glare intensifying. "Exorcists are tools of God, and I recall saying this before, we are not here to protect our disciples, we are here to **win** this war."

The whole room was cloaked in a heavy atmosphere after he said that, neither one backing down, even the Generals would not speak. This was the first time their meeting had gone so dangerously deep. Allen sighed inwardly, he was quickly getting bored. Ever since the Ark incident, he had been put under surveillance, which did not bode well with him. Apart from that, he was forcefully promoted to General once Leverrier found out that he had past his critical rate, which gave the Inspector more excuses to order him around as he wished. Seeing that the glaring match between the two higher ups would not end anytime soon, Allen decided to speak.

"Are you not afraid of what would happen if the exorcists hear those words you just said, Inspector Leverrier?" Allen said casually, as if discussing the weather. Everyone turned their attention to the youngest General, even General Sokoro, who had shown no interest in even listening.

Leverrier scowled at the boy, resent clearly in his eyes. "What are you trying to say, General Walker?"

To his surprise, Allen plastered a very obvious fake smile on his face. "I would be more afraid of a rebellion, Inspector." He replied cheerfully, ignoring the way Leverrier's temper flared. "After all, we exorcists are also human."

It was almost amusing, the situation, and Cross had to bark out a laugh, mentally praising his idiot apprentice for such a comeback. The once sweet, naïve Allen Walker was no more, the 24 hour surveillance had irritated him to the point he almost snapped, adding on the meetings he'd been forced to attend, his mood had taken such a drastic change that even Kanda had commented on it. Linali tried not to act differently around him, but it was hard for her as well. Lavi however, managed to remain pretty much the same, but everyone was well aware of how the stress was slowly pushing the boy to his edge.

Unfortunately, it seems that Leverrier was unaware of the time bomb he had planted in Allen Walker.

"What are you trying to imply?" Leverrier said, his voice dangerously low. It appears that he was trying to be patient with Allen, but with that smile on his face, the Inspector just about had enough of the young General.

"Oh, nothing at all." Allen said, leaning further into the couch. It was rather comfortable, no wonder exorcists would relax here as they listened to Komui's mission briefing. "As I said, we are only human. It would be…" he paused, as if searching for the word. "A natural instinct? I suppose, to rebel." He tilted his head a bit, looking thoughtful. "Because we exorcists were taught to believe that we would win and live through this holy war."

* * *

Kanda sat in the infirmary, having just returned from a two week mission with Lavi. The redhead was lying on one of the beds, unconscious. He had taken a hard blow to his head, due to his carelessness. Although reluctant, Kanda had dragged him from the abandoned village they were at, all the way to the train station and back to the Black Order. The doctors told the Japanese youth that Lavi might suffer from concussions, as the blow he was dealt with was indeed a very hard one. It was a miracle he wasn't in coma yet.

"Your wounds are not deep, thankfully." The Head Nurse said, washing the blood off her hands. "But I would prefer you stay the night, just in case."

"Che, I don't need to stay, it'll heal by morning." Kanda said, pulling on his exorcist coat and made a move to leave the room. He didn't get further than two steps, because the Head Nurse had placed a firm grip on his shoulder.

"And exactly who is in charge here in the infirmary, I wonder…?" her gaze was cold, even colder than Kanda's and he had to suppress a shudder at the icy tone. "Now go to the unoccupied bed beside Lavi."

Kanda grumbled as he was forced to obey the order. Vaguely he wondered if the Head Nurse was some kind of Akuma, to be able to force even him to obey. He snorted at the ridiculous thought. Just as he sat down on the bed, the doors to the room opened again, and Allen stumbled in, catching the wall before he fell.

"Allen!" the old woman was beside him in an instance, checking his pulse and forehead. Kanda watched, confused as the nurse shouted orders for cold water and towels to be brought immediately. What was wrong with the beansprout now?

He noticed one thing about the young General though, that his right cheek was swollen, even if just a bit. It looked as though he had been hit recently, maybe just a few minutes ago. He felt his blood boil at the thought, but he did not really know why. Silently, he watched the medical staff work as they placed the boy on an empty bed, checking his temperature and such. It was only when they finished that Allen noticed him.

"Kanda…?" he said, trying to prop himself up. "You're back? Where's Lavi?"

Kanda snorted, pointing to the bed beside him. He saw panic flashing through Allen's eyes and he struggled more to get up. "Don't worry." Kanda muttered, which caught the younger boy's attention. "He's just unconscious."

Allen relaxed at that, but he tried to lean over to take a better look at Lavi, since he wasn't directly opposite the redhead's bed. Kanda watched again, but this time in amusement as the boy kept leaning further out until he fell out of the bed with a loud 'thud'. Muttering curses under his breath, Allen grabbed the mattress and tried to heave himself up again, failing. Smirking at his stupidity, Kanda got up and went to his side, picking up Allen with ease and setting him back on the bed.

"T-thanks." Allen said, a faint blush on his cheeks, which Kanda missed.

"Che, the Head Nurse wouldn't want to find a dead moyashi on the infirmary floor." Kanda said, sitting down on Allen's bed.

"I wouldn't have died you know, baKanda."

He remained silent, looking at Allen up and down. He had been gone for a short time, but the change in Allen was drastic, if he may say. When he lifted the teen up, he felt light, lighter than he was. Kanda remembered carrying him a few days before he went on his mission, only because the idiot had collapsed in the hall near his room. Apart from that, his skin was paler too, not to mention the bags under his gray eyes were getting more obvious. "You're not taking care of yourself, are you?" Kanda stated.

Allen smiled, shaking his head. "What makes you say that?"

"Che. Any idiot would have noticed." Kanda retorted, poking Allen's forehead. "And what's wrong with you? It seems like the Head Nurse is used to you appearing like that."

"Why are you so concerned?" Allen said, swatting away his hand. "_The _Yuu Kanda is actually concerned? Or is he just poking into my business?"

"Shut up and answer." Kanda growled.

Allen sighed, leaning back against the pillows. "It's just the meetings, Kanda. I'm sure you know how tiring they can be."

Before Kanda could open his mouth to reply, the Head Nurse had came back to Allen's bedside, holding an icepack and pressing it to his right cheek. Oddly enough, she did not command the Japanese youth to get back to bed. She was muttering something as she fussed about, clearly angry. Not wanting to provoke the old woman now, he merely watched again.

"I swear, if he hits you one more time…" the Head Nurse told Allen, while he tried to calm the woman down. "It's the fourth time this week, Allen! He can't go around doing this!"

Kanda's eyes widened briefly, surprised. Fourth time?

Allen noticed his reaction and flashed him a guilty smile, which Kanda glared in return. "What does she mean?" he hissed, crossing his arms. Allen tried to feint innocent, but as the moments went by and the Head Nurse left, Kanda's patience wore out. "What the fuck did she mean, beansprout?"

The younger teen pouted miserably, his plan on feinting innocent had went down the drain with Kanda's persistence. "It's nothing, really."

"How the fuck can it be nothing if she said it's the fourth time?" Kanda snapped, hitting the mattress with a fist. He was angry, but he wasn't about to ponder why. "Who the fuck hit you?"

"..."

"Moyashi!" Kanda gritted out, irritated.

"Leverrier."

"When are you going to stop?" Komui's voice sounded hollow in the room where only two people were present. "He's just a boy…"

"He's a General." Leverrier answered back, flipping through some documents. "He's taken worse."

"How can you expect them to stay loyal if you're going to treat them like pawns!" Komui yelled, slamming his hands on his table. "How can you even think of winning the war if you're just dampening their spirits!"

Leverrier snorted. "Say what you want Supervisor, but you _will _obey the orders I give out."

Komui could only glare and clench his fist as he watched the Inspector continue his work. How he wished he had the power to do something.

* * *

"L-Linali!" Allen's voice called out, and the Chinese girl turned to see Kanda stomping in her direction, with Allen's arms around his waist. "Linali, stop him!" the younger boy pleaded, trying to restrain the angered samurai.

"Allen-kun? What's…Kanda, stop!" Linali placed her hands on his chest. "You're hurting Allen-kun!"

That made him stop. He glanced down at Allen and noticed he had slumped to the ground when Kanda stopped walking. His face was glistening with sweat and his cheeks were tinted pink. Linali bent down and checked his temperature, frowning when she withdrew her hand. "Kanda, take him to the infirmary, he's burning up."

He said nothing as he bent down, throwing Allen's arms around his neck as he hoisted him up. Linali smiled and waved them off, saying she needed to see her brother. She had taken one look at Allen's face and knew that Leverrier had took a hit on him again. It was clearly no surprise that everyone knew, because his face was always like that after a meeting, though it only started a week ago.

The exorcists weren't exactly placing all their faith in the Black Order anymore.

* * *

**I guess this would count as a prologue? Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for the reviews! Really happy for it! But sorry for the late replies! D:**

**This chapter is dedicated to my Beta, Niamh/N.H Arawn! Happy Birthday dear! XDD  
**

**DISCLAIMER: -man does not belong to me, or I would've made more Yullen scenes. **

**WARNING: Yaoi. No lemon...yet. I think? :D And possible spoilers of a few characters if you're only following the anime.**

* * *

**2. Loss**

Two days later found Allen sleeping deeply in the infirmary, with Linali and Kanda by his side. Lavi had woken up a day before, but since the injury on his head had temporarily damaged his eyesight, and he was forced to stay longer. The Head Nurse had assured Lavi that he would not be losing his sight, as it was only temporary. Needless to say, Lavi had panicked quite a bit when he had woken up and was unable to see.

"It's common for an injury to the head to affect certain body parts or functions." The Head Nurse told Linali and Kanda. "I'm sure it's temporary, as we have already run a few checks." Her gaze softened at the sleeping figure she had been examining. "He does not need to worry about losing sight at all, but…"

"But…?" Linali asked, concerned in her eyes.

"I cannot say when Allen will wake up." The older woman said, sighing sadly. "His fever has never gone up so high, and he's never slept for so long before."

"He's not in coma, is he?"

The Head Nurse shook her head. "Don't worry, he's not that deep in sleep, but we are worried, as nothing has been able to wake him up." She walked over to the bed opposite of Lavi, where Allen lay. "I'm surprised his need for food has not woken him up either."

"Krory slept through his hunger at that time…" Linali said, hoping it was not the same for Allen. "Could it be he's over exhausted?"

"I really have no idea, Linali." The Head Nurse said softly, writing some things onto the clipboard she was holding. Placing it back at the edge of the bed, she turned to them again. "I suggest you two get some rest, you've been here for two days straight and I wouldn't want anymore patients that over exert themselves."

"But we-" Linali began to argue, when the door creaked opened.

"Is Allen Walker awake yet?" the voice of Howard Link came through, and all eyes turned to him. "Inspector Leverrier wants to see him."

The Inspector had been demanding to see Allen even though he was unconscious in the infirmary. The Head Nurse had firmly disapproved of any mission related visits, as she said taking care of exorcists health was her responsibility and she would not permit anyone to interfere, it seems he had run out of patience now, after only two days.

"I already told you we don't know when he will wake up." The Head Nurse said, frowning. "And I also said we will notify you immediately if he does."

Link nodded. "I remember, but the Inspector demands to see him…now."

"How exactly do you expect us to wake him up then?" The older woman said, throwing up her hands. "We can't control what a body does!"

"Shock him."

The three occupants were taken back at the suggestion, even Kanda, who had been silent throughout the whole visit. Linali glared at Link, clenching her fist tightly. The Head Nurse stepped forward, pushing Linali back. "What did you say?" she asked, her voice dangerously low. No one had ever heard of shocking a patient, and she wouldn't let that happen, not in her presence.

"The Inspector has demanded Allen Walker to be shocked awake, if he is still asleep." Link replied, never breaking eye contact. "And if you don't do it, I have permission to do so."

"Che. You can try." Kanda said, stepping forward. "But do you think you'll succeed?"

"I've had enough of this nonsense in my infirmary." The old woman said. "I will not allow my patients to be shocked! Only if the heart had stopped will I permit anyone to touch the machine!"

"…What…"

Allen's hoarse voice brought everyone's attention to him, and the Head Nurse rushed to his side. Linali followed soon after, but Kanda stood where he was, glaring at Link. Link frowned, obviously displeased at something, but Kanda wasn't going to ponder what.

"Have him come to Komui's office immediately." Link said, before turning to walk out, closing the door behind him.

"But Allen-kun!" Linali protested, grabbing onto his arm gently as not to hurt him. "You're not healed yet, please!"

Allen had gotten out of bed as soon as he woke up, following Link to meet Leverrier in Komui's office. The Head Nurse and Linali couldn't stop him, and Kanda had just watched. Sometime around there, Lavi had woken up and saw the scene.

"Yuu?"

Kanda grunted, sitting down beside the bed. "What?"

"Allen…has a mission." Lavi stated. "And it was supposed to be with me."

Kanda nodded, signaling for the redhead to continue.

"But since I'm here, I doubt Leverrier would let Allen go out on a mission alone, and he's most likely to send you with him." Lavi said, his expression serious. "And another reason is that the nearest exorcist is two days away. Leverrier claims the mission is urgent."

"Which translates to, he wants Allen out of the headquarters immediately." Kanda growled, irritated.

Lavi nodded. "I don't know the reason, but he told me to get my ass back here as soon as I was done with my mission, but I didn't expect to end up here." He said, grinning. "So I guess you'll be going with him, Yuu-chan!"

Resisting the urge to hit Lavi on the head, Kanda settled for hitting his right leg, which despite being in a cast, still hurt like hell. Lavi yelped, and Kanda smirked.

"You better be up and acting stupid when we get back." Kanda said, leaving the infirmary.

* * *

It was evening and after his mission briefing before Kanda next saw Allen, and he was outside the cafeteria, talking to Linali, who looked troubled.

"Allen-kun! I already said you're not fully healed! You can't go on a mission so soon!" Linali said, silently begging him not to go. "What if your illness gets worse?"

Allen shook his head, patting her shoulder lightly. "I'm sorry, Linali. I'm a General, and I shouldn't be lying in bed when other exorcists are gambling their lives out there." He gave her an assuring smile. "I'll be fine, Kanda will be with me."

"Che, look out for yourself, baka moyashi." Kanda said, walking up to them.

Allen laughed lightly, nodding. "I'm going to head back to my room. Goodnight Linali, Kanda."

Although Kanda said it harshly, he couldn't help but feel worried as they watch Allen wobble back to his room. He was pretty certain Allen's fever had not gone down, and perhaps the mission would be able to help after all, since it was a long one, surprisingly. To get to the village they needed to go to would take at least three days, as they needed to switch trains and take a boat. Allen could take a break for that three days, he hoped.

"He doesn't know what his limits are, so you have to promise to watch him for me…" Linali said, acting like a mother. "Kanda, promise me." She said sternly, after receiving no response from the Japanese exorcist.

Kanda grunted.

* * *

Allen woke up to a loud pounding on his door the next morning, and he couldn't remember how, but when he noticed, he was already at the door, twisting the doorknob for it to open. When he opened it however, he wasn't ready to listen to anything the man standing there had to say.

"You moron!" Kanda shouted, as soon as Allen opened the door. "You're late!"

Blinking away his sleepiness, Allen came to realize what Kanda had said. Glancing back to the clock on his table, his eyes widened when he saw that it was already eleven in the morning, and he had promised to meet Kanda at the dock at ten.

"I-I'm sorry!" Allen yelped, turning to walk back into the room, but he tripped on his own legs. He closed his eyes, feeling himself fall and waiting for the impact, but it never came. Instead, a pair of warm arms wrapped around his waist, holding him up.

"Idiot…" Kanda muttered, hoisting the smaller boy up. "Just…just hurry up." He said, pulling Allen into the room and closing the door. "The Finder is already waiting."

Allen nodded, grabbing his clothes from the closet, he went into the bathroom to change. Kanda sighed in annoyance, racking a hand through his hair. He really hated waiting, but Linali had insisted that Kanda let Allen sleep in a little more as he was still sick, so he had to wait an hour before he could come and find the General.

After a few more minutes, Allen came out, fully dressed and looking more alert. He grabbed his suitcase, which was on the bed and turned to Kanda. "Alright, lets- Kanda?"

Kanda looked up, a bit confused at the tone of Allen's voice, which was concerned. "What?"

"Blood…there's blood on you!" Allen said, dropping his case. He pushed Kanda's hand away from his face and brushed his fringe back. "What did you do?" Allen asked, frowning. There were no wounds, but the scent and liquid was indeed blood.

"What the fuck?" Kanda cursed, pushing Allen away. "I didn't do anything!"

Allen continued frowning, but he pushed away the thought while he grabbed a cloth off his table. "Hold it here, I'll get some bandages."

"Whatever it is, it'll heal." Kanda said, glaring at Allen. "Let's just go already, we've wasted enough time."

Without waiting for his response, Kanda stood up, and walked out of the room. Allen looked thoughtful as he watched Kanda leave. Picking up his suitcase, he looked back into his room, smiling sadly before closing the door. It might be a while before he could return here, to a place he had called home for so many years.

* * *

"How long do you think it'll take for him to come here?" A childish voice whined, as a young girl continued picking out dresses from her closet. "I'm getting bored!"

"Be patient, it wasn't exactly easy for him to accept his own fate." Another voice said in a bored tone.

"It's been months!" the child continued to whine, tossing the dress in the man's direction on purpose. "At least play with me during the time!" The girl said crossly, walking over to the man.

"I'm afraid not, you see, it's nearly time." The man said. His white teeth shone in the dark, his face - if one could see it - was stretched with an insanely wide grin.

* * *

The days it took to get to the village passed in a flash for Kanda, and he thought Allen had started to look better by the time they reached their destination. Although he would not admit it, despite Linali's request and his own words, he would have looked out for the younger boy. The Finder had told them he would be waiting at the dock for them, and wished them luck on their mission.

"The report states that a horde of level two Akuma have been seen around the village, but my eye isn't reacting." Allen said, looking down at the village below them.

"Che, we'll have to look for them."

"Kanda, be careful, the cliff…"

Kanda snorted. "You should be watching yourself, beansprout. I won't be falling off a cliff, but maybe you will."

Allen glared at him, but he nodded, knowing how clumsy he could be at times. Walking down the path behind Kanda, he vaguely wondered if the sinking feeling in his gut meant that something would go horribly wrong on this mission. He couldn't ponder long on it, because his cursed eye reacted almost immediately when they reached the village, and it hurt so much that Allen had to grab onto Kanda to not fall to the ground.

"What the hell?" Kanda snapped, but his eyes widened briefly at the sight of Allen's cursed eye. It looked more disgusting than he remembered, as the eye looked like it was trying to get out of the lens, and the sound it made wasn't helping at all.

"Akuma…!" Allen gasped, letting go of Kanda.

Activating his Innocence, Allen did not spare Kanda a glance as he ran for the nearest Akuma he spotted. Cursing, Kanda unsheathed Mugen and headed in the opposite direction, deciding that if Allen had enough energy to rush head on into a battle, he certainly had enough brains to take care of himself too.

"Cross Grave!"

Ignoring Allen's battle, Kanda focuses on his own enemies as he unleashed his illusions. Cutting through Akuma like a knife slicing through better, he risked a glance at Allen to make sure he was holding up. In that spilt second of turning his head, Kanda failed to notice another Akuma coming from behind the one he had just destroyed, but Allen did, and he tried to warn Kanda.

"Kanda!" Allen yelled, dodging a swipe from the Akuma in front of him. "Kanda, behind you!"

Kanda bit back a curse at his stupidity as he blocked the attack, but the force of it pushed him off the cliff behind him, and he was caught by surprised.

"Shit!" He tried to twist his body so that he could grab onto the ledge, but he couldn't as the Akuma was still pushing him down. Kanda growled as he pushed it back, cursing once more. The fall would be a long one, but he was confident he'd survive, the only thing he needed to worry about was leaving Allen to deal with the rest of them.

"Kanda!"

A clawed hand grabbed him, hoisting him up and before he knew it, he hit hard ground. Kanda got up immediately, slicing through the Akuma beside him as he looked over the edge. He could see that stupid smile on Allen's face as he fell in Kanda's place.

* * *

**Look! Cliffy! XDDDDD I mean...if you're looking for spoilers for this fic, there's always some random pages I've sketched out on my LJ. **

**_dark1408(dot)livejournal(dot)com  
_**

**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for reviewing! This chapter is a lil short compared to the previous ones? XD And yeah! I just noticed when reviews pointed out that I left an actual cliff for a cliffy! rofl!**

**Thanks to: Niamh, for being my beta. ;)**

**DISCLAIMER: -man does not belong to me, or I would've made more Yullen scenes. **

**WARNING: Yaoi. And possible spoilers of a few characters if you're only following the anime.**

* * *

**3. Coincidence **

Kanda gritted his teeth, ignoring the cold that seeped into his skin as he waded into the waist deep water beneath the cliff. After Allen had fell, Kanda wasted no time in disposing of the remaining Akuma. When he reached the bottom of the cliff, he was somewhat relieved to find there was a river, as it gave higher possibility that Allen was still alive.

"Idiot."

But now, after searching for almost an hour, Kanda wasn't so sure anymore. He was thoroughly annoyed that he had to get wet just to look for that beansprout, even now seeing no sign of the young General.

"Beansprout!" Kanda yelled, scowling when no response was heard. Why did Allen have to have that stupid martyr complex of his? Kanda was confident he would have been fine had he taken the fall, but that idiot just had to throw himself in Kanda's place.

* * *

"I say, that was quite a fall you took." A Portuguese man said, lighting a cigarette as he smirked at the soaked boy in front of him.

"It was convenient." Came the reply, as the boy shrugged off his wet coat. "There was no better coincidence than this mission."

"Oh?" Tyki questioned, handing the boy a fresh batch of clothes, and turned away to let the boy have his privacy. "I thought you did not believe in coincidence…" he said, chuckling. The boy said nothing as he dressed, pushing his wet bangs from his face to reveal a blood red pentacle above his left eye.

"Allen Walker."

* * *

"_Allen's missing!"_ Linali's high pitched voice exclaimed through Kanda's wireless golem.

Kanda had given up searching the waters, and proceeded to scout the land instead, thinking that if Allen had survived the fall, he would most likely be trying to find his way up the cliff, and get lost in the process. The Finder who had waited for them had contacted Headquarters, reporting what had happened to Komui. Komui had informed Kanda that the nearest exorcists available were Linali and Miranda, and that they would reach the site within the next few hours.

Kanda grunted. "He fell down a cliff."

"_How long has it been?"_ The Chinese girl asked, her voice laced with concern. _"Have you found anything?"_

"Che, nothing." Kanda grumbled as he pushed past the annoying branches in his way. "I've been search-"

"Kanda?"

"…Allen's coat." He replied a few moments later, as he bent down to retrieve it.

Shaking the wet coat, he was surprised when the golden golem fell out, barring its teeth at the Japanese youth. He had expected Timcanpy to be with Allen, no matter what happened. Glaring at it, he grabbed the golem and continued searching.

"I found Tim." Kanda stated. He heard Miranda's gasp, and Linali's voice came through again.

"_Does Tim…have any recordings?"_

Kanda looked at Timcanpy expectantly, and the golem opened its mouth, projecting images from the fight before Allen fell. He watched as the recording played, all until the part where Allen grabbed the golem and stuffed it into his pocket as he fell, not wanting to lose it, Kanda suspected. But that was all, and Tim closed its mouth.

"Nothing helpful." Kanda told Linali, who sighed in defeat.

"Alright, we'll be arriving soon." Linali muttered, clearly trying not to break down. She had lost enough friends in this war already.

"Have them return immediately."

Komui lifted his head from the paper he was signing, cocking an eyebrow when Leverrier walked in and said that.

"Pardon?" Komui asked, setting down his pen. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with the Inspector, not after hearing one of his General had gone missing, and the youngest one at that.

"Have the exorcists that were dispatched to the abandoned village in France return at once." Leverrier repeated.

"But they're searching for Allen-"

"Let him be." Leverrier growled. "If he is a General, he will make it back here without their help."

Komui's temper flared at his words. "He may be a General, Inspector, but you cannot forget the fact that he is only a mere boy of sixteen!" he yelled, slamming his fist on the table as he stood. "Have you no heart at all!"

"Exorcists are merely tools of God, the Pope's property and army." Leverrier simply said, like it was the most basic knowledge. "Age does not matter in war, they are still exorcists."

Resisting the urge to beat the Inspector into a bloody pulp, Komui settled for glaring hard at the man, regretting the fact that he would still have to obey a direct order from his superior. Grabbing the golem he had used to contact his sister, he reluctantly connected it again.

The sun was already setting by the time Linali and Miranda arrived, and yet, there was still no sign of Allen. Kanda had met up with them, and shook his head when Linali was about to open her mouth. She bit her lip in frustration and immediately started looking, and was joined by the other two in a few moments.

"Are you sure you searched the whole area?" Linali asked quietly, clutching Allen's coat to her chest. "And you still couldn't find him?"

Kanda nodded. "All I found was Tim."

"Bu-"

"_Linali."_

Komui's voice came through Linali's golem this time, and she hoped that her brother had found something, or at least some good news. "Niisan? What is it?"

"…_Return to the Black Order immediately."_

The three exorcists couldn't believe their ears, hearing the order. "What?" Linali asked, clutching the coat tighter. The fabric was soft under her hands, and she was trembling slightly. "But Allen-kun…"

"_This is an order, Linali Li, Kanda Yuu and Miranda Lotto."_ Leverrier's voice cut through sharply. _"Return to Headquarters, __**now**__."_

And then the transmission was cut off, leaving them stunned.

"God damn." Kanda muttered under his breath, glancing at the two girls before letting out a sigh. He was getting too soft. "Let's go."

Linali snapped her head to face him. "What!"

"What about Allen?" Miranda asked timidly. The Japanese youth still intimidated her, no matter how long she got to know him.

"Beansprout will be fine." Kanda grunted. "But Komui will get into trouble if we don't follow orders." He glanced at Linali, waiting for her response. She looked as though she was about to protest, but the thought of her brother bearing the consequences of their actions made her stop, and she nodded in defeat.

"Allen-kun is strong, he'll be fine." Linali said to Miranda, straining a smile.

But the words Linali uttered had not served to assure Miranda, and she sounded as though she was trying to convince herself that they were true.

* * *

The days and weeks past in a flash for them, each day they would look out the windows of their room or wherever they were, just hoping that they would see the familiar silhouette of the white hair boy walking up to the Order. They were disappointed as each day passed painfully. Even the halls that were normally lively with chatter had died down, and Linali seemed to be taking it the worse out of all of them.

"Linali?" Lavi muttered, setting his plate down beside her. The girl looked up at him, and gave him a pained smile.

"Good morning, Lavi."

Lavi smiled back but it was strained, just like hers. "You haven't been eating well…" the redhead had been discharged a week after their return, and was enraged when he found out what had happened. Link had been unfortunate enough to be there when he was told, and Lavi had given him a punch to his face. The Inspector hadn't gone near the Bookman apprentice since.

"…don't have the appetite." The girl mumbled, sighing.

"Well, you still havta-"

A loud crash interrupted whatever he was about to say next, as the ceiling came falling down on them. The two exorcists reacted immediately as they jumped out of harms way. People in the cafeteria, most who were not exorcists, tried to get out of the room as slabs and concrete started coming down on their heads. Lavi saw many who were already injured and cursed, pulling out his Innocence.

"Oodzuchi Kodzuchi, _man, man, man_!" he yelled, making his hammer large enough to shield them. Others who weren't injured helped to drag the injured ones out of the hall, while exorcists who remained in the Order had rushed in, along with a few members of the Science Department.

"Niisan!" Linali landed beside her brother. "What's going on?" she asked, as she watched Lavi shift his hammer. The ceiling had crumbled all of a sudden, making them wonder what the hell just happened.

"I can't say for sure…" Komui replied, looking at the damage. He was certain the ceiling did not give way because of how old it was. The whole tower would have been the same if that was the reason. "Just get the injured to the infirmary; the Head Nurse will take care of them." He turned to Lavi. "Lavi, please shelter them, I think only the ceiling here has collapsed…"

Kanda came to stand beside them, glancing at Linali when she let out a gasp.

"Kanda! Were you hit?" Linali asked, pulling out a piece of cloth and began dabbing at his forehead. He winced when she pressed too hard, and she muttered a quick apology.

"Che, of course not." He said, annoyed that she would think that way. Swatting away her hand gently, he ran his sleeve across his forehead to find it coated in blood, just like the days before this. He wasn't surprised, but he didn't know the reason either.

"But you're bleeding!" she said, and it seemed as though no one else heard because they were too busy clearing the path and helping the injured ones.

Seeing that they were the only ones left in the cafeteria, Komui signaled for Lavi to lower his Innocence. "The Finders are outside; they can help to move the bigger stones and concrete, but-"

"Good evening, Black Order." A clear voice cut through the hall, and everyone looked around to find the source of the voice. It sounded painfully familiar to them, and a Finder pointed to the top of the building, where the moon was already starting to shine. A figure sat there, smiling.

"That's…!" Lavi's eye widened in surprise.

"Oh god…" Linali covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes filling with tears.

And the light shifted as the figure's face was revealed, his ever polite smile on his face. "I'm Allen Walker."

* * *

_**Editor's Note:** Dark is a jerk-face for ending it there, but I still like her. 8D_

**Niamh really left that note there. XD **

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Haha finally finished this...I had to go through at least three drafts...lolz. I only send the second and third to Niamh though? XD First one was too horrible...D: Thank you all so much for the reviews for the previous chapters, I haven't gotten down to reply the ones from chapter 3 yet, but I'll get to it later! I promise! XD**

**Thanks to: Niamh, for being my beta. ;)**

**DISCLAIMER: -man does not belong to me because seriously, how can a girl be an exact replica of Kanda! XDDD Jealous naa!**

**WARNING: Yaoi. And possible spoilers of a few characters if you're only following the anime.**

* * *

**4. The play begins**

Kanda knew the moment he set eyes on Allen, that something was definitely different about the young General. Firstly there was the horde of Akuma hovering behind and beside him, and secondly his cursed eye was not reacting to them. A month ago, he wouldn't have hesitated in drawing Mugen and running it through Allen himself, but after a certain incident with the white haired General that one night, he paused.

"Allen!" Lavi shouted, his voice containing concern and worry. "What are—"

Allen ignored the redhead. Digging through his pants pocket, he threw something small and solid down to the ground below, where it landed with a '_cling_' near Komui. Komui picked up the seemingly foreign object, eyes widening when he realized what it was. His head snapped towards Allen, mouth slightly open.

"There's one more." Allen said, throwing another one down, and Linali caught it.

Opening her palm, she noticed it was a silver button, one with a name imprinted on it, Krory. Puzzled at why Allen would have it, she looked up to see him smiling, as if waiting for something.

"You…couldn't have…" Komui said slowly. "Allen-kun…"

"Niisan?" Linali asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Those two were scheduled to return within the week, weren't they?" Allen replied casually, his tone uncaring. "I guess you won't be seeing them now."

Linali's eyes widened this time, glancing at her brother, then to Allen. "Allen-kun?" she whispered, her voice cracking. "What did you do…?"

"Nothing much." Came the reply, before the walls of the cafeteria crumbled down, revealing more Akuma behind them.

"What the—"

"Supervisor!" A Finder shouted. "The halls…they're filled with Akuma! We're being—"

The Finder let out a scream and black pentacles appeared all over him him, and his body faded to dust in a few seconds. Screams and shouts followed by the sounds of gunfire could be heard, and the Exorcists in the vicinity stared at Allen, who seemed unfazed by all the commotion.

"And it has begun." Allen said, smiling as the Akuma behind him started to attack. They rained down on the few Exorcists that were present, while they hastily attempted to invocate.

"Innocence, activate!" Lavi and Linali shouted at the same time. Linali pushed off the ground, jumping from one Akuma to another, delivering swift, powerful kicks to each one, successfully destroying them.

"Enbu; Kirikaze!" She shouted, sending a destructive tornado towards a cluster of Akuma, annihilating them with little resistance. Repeating the technique a few times, she ignored the fact that she was only hitting the level ones, while the level twos and threes were gleefully avoiding it.

Lavi and Kanda stayed on the ground, trying to protect the people from the Science Department, especially Komui. Lavi spun his hammer around, and the elemental seals slowly appeared around his head. "Gouka Kaijin; Hi Ban!" He shouted, slamming his hammer down on the 'fire' symbol. The flame snakes rose from the ground beneath him, going towards the Akuma. It swallowed up a few level twos and many level ones, but the level threes still managed to avoid it.

Allen watched in amusement as the battle wore on, the walls crumbling; the building was obviously collapsing, but the Exorcists and Akuma continued on with the pointless fighting. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leverrier appear beside Komui.

"What is happening!" Leverrier growled out at Komui, who turned to him.

"Inspector!" He said, clearly not happy. "Allen—"

"Inspector, Allen Walker…" Link muttered, directing Leverrier's attention towards the boy who sat high up on the broken roof.

"Allen Walker!" Leverrier shouted. "What are your duties! You should be—"

"Destroying Akuma for the greater good?" Allen interrupted smoothly. "Or sacrificing myself so that the Vatican will live and continue this holy war?"

The rage the Inspector felt could not be described. If he was happy he had proven that Allen was indeed a traitor, he did not express it. Instead, he turned towards the Exorcists beside him, all three who were new.

"What are you waiting for!" He barked at them. "Capture him!"

As they were new and bore no grudge or hatred towards the Inspector, they complied with his command immediately, invocating their Innocence and taking to the air towards Allen. Kanda twitched at their rashness, wondering who would be stupid enough to jump head on into a battle where they did not even know the strength of their enemy. It was painfully obvious that they were also new to fighting, as their movements were stiff and easily seen through.

"How pathetic." Allen said, snapping his fingers.

A level three Akuma appeared beside him in a flash, a fist drawn back and ready to land a hit on all three Exorcists. Their expressions changed to surprised and fear, having never encountered a level three Akuma before.

"Kaichuu; Ichigen!"

The Hell's Insect came in between the two parties, managing to slice off the Akuma's arm and saved the three Exorcists. Kanda leapt towards the Akuma right after his first illusion, calling the insects back to his blade before striking the Akuma, slicing it in half. It exploded after a few seconds, and before Allen could comprehend what had happened, he found himself in Kanda's arms, away from the danger.

"Kanda?" Allen asked, staring up at the Japanese youth's dark blue eyes.

"Che."

Releasing his hold on the younger boy, Kanda turned to jump down to join the battle again, but he turned before leaping.

"I know what's wrong with me."

Allen's eyes widened in surprised, getting up quickly and grabbing onto Kanda's sleeve before he could jump. "And…you don't…hate me?" he asked in a soft whisper, which was barely audible with all the gunfire and clashing of the ongoing battle.

Kanda smirked, mouthing something before pulling away, leaving Allen to stare at his back.

_Why would I?_

* * *

"Tyki!" Rhode called out, twirling Lero in her hand. The umbrella had become less talkative ever since the Earl was gone, and Rhode was quickly getting bored of it.

"Mm?" Tyki muttered, closing the book in his hands softly. "What is it?"

Rhode skipped her way to him, jumping up so that she was sitting on his lap. "Where's Allen-kun?" she whined. "I wanted to play with him!"

"Oh? He went out?" The Portuguese man sounded surprised. "He shouldn't be out yet, not when the transformation has just been completed…"

"So?"

Tyki sighed, patting Rhode's head lightly. Sometimes he wondered how she was the First Child. "He'll most likely pass out since he hasn't been resting well." He pushed her off gently. "Any idea where he went?"

Rhode grinned. "Of course, where else would he go?"

Tyki shook his head, chuckling. "Oh yes…where else indeed, apart from the Black Order?"

* * *

_I don't want to believe this._

Linali kept going, slamming her legs into one Akuma after another, she was pushing her body past the limits, her muscles were already screaming but she still kept going. The number of Akuma finally seemed to be decreasing, and the newer Exorcists were on ground, fighting off the Akuma together with the Finders, who assisted their efforts with barriers.

The thoughts in her head prevented her from thinking clearly as her body moved automatically, destroying all the Akuma around her. She didn't want to believe that it was Allen who was attacking home. _Their_ home.

As she delivered a final kick to the last Akuma in air, she landed swiftly behind Lavi, turning around so that her back was to his. "Half the building is in ruins." She heard Lavi muttered. "At least Hevlaska is safe…"

"With the Innocence?" Linali finished his sentence, lifting her leg to kick away an Akuma that got too close. Lavi grunted as he swung his hammer, clearly worn out. He had kept his fire seal activated all the while, and it was taking a toll on him. Willing the flame snake to twist and swallow the few remaining level ones, Lavi dismissed it immediately after that, falling to his knees.

"Damn…" He cursed, seeing more level twos approaching them.

"We can't keep going at this rate!" Linali stated, covering for Lavi as he struggled to regain his breath.

"Kaichuu; Ichigen!" Kanda's voice shouted, and Hell's Insects slammed into a few Akuma, tearing them apart and exploding. "Che. Tired out already?" The Japanese Exorcist said, walking towards them.

"We need to finish this fast…" Lavi panted. "We're the only three Exorcists that can battle efficiently, sad to say." He said, casting a glance at the three new Exorcists who were busy fending off just a few Akuma. "Where did all these Akuma come from?" He grumbled as an after thought.

Kanda smirked at Lavi's attitude; at least he still had his humor intact when there was an ongoing battle around him. He frowned at that, being he knew that Lavi was right. They might be Exorcists, but there were limits to their stamina and strength. He could already see that the two wouldn't last long, not to mention the others wouldn't be much help.

Sighing, he changed the way he held Mugen and pulled out his sheath, mentally calculating that he could finish off at least half the Akuma on ground with Ningentou. "Mugen; Ningentou." The Akuma had started charging at him, and he smirked, swinging his blades down. "Hakka Tourou!"

The slashes really did managed to take out half their numbers, and Lavi continued the assault with his own Innocence.

"Gouraiten; Konbo Ban!" he shouted, slamming the 'fire' symbol followed by the 'heaven' symbol. The huge snake of fire and iron burst up beneath the Akuma this time, swallowing whatever remained of them, leaving the ground bare and devoid of any of the ugly creatures.

Allen frowned, seeing that most of the Akuma had been destroyed, and the few left were the level three and a few level ones behind him. He sighed, folding his arms.

"I guess I at least succeeded in bringing down half the building…" Allen muttered, catching their attention.

"What?" Lavi exclaimed. "You wanted to destroy the Order?"

Allen smirked, chuckling softly. "Yes, I did. As well as the Innocence in Hevlaska." He shook his head. "I guess I'll leave it to another day—" He blinked, wondering when his vision had started to get so hazy, as he grabbed onto an Akuma to steady himself. He felt himself swaying towards the edge of the roof, and with a curse he realized that his foot had slipped, sending him tumbling downwards, head first.

"Allen-kun!" Linali screamed, willing herself to push off the ground fast in order to reach the falling boy. Another shadow ran past her, grabbing Allen just before he hit the ground and pulling him back up to where the Akuma were.

"Kanda!" Reever shouted, eyes widening when he saw the Japanese youth holding Allen in his arms. Despite Allen saying he wanted to destroy the Black Order, he still was once their ally and friend, and no one would wish to see him dead. "Thank God…bring him over here!"

"…No."

As soon as he uttered the word, everyone on the field stopped, even Linali and Lavi stared at him in surprised. Leverrier scowled. "It's an order, Exorcist. Bring Allen Walker here."

Kanda smirked, shifting Allen's weight so that he could hold him up with one hand; he used his other to push his bangs back, revealing a line of crosses across his forehead. Everyone was shocked, most of them dropping their weapons and shields or let their jaw hung open.

"T-the cross…" A Finder stuttered. "The cross of a Noah!"

Kanda chuckled darkly, lifting Allen up again. "The 7000 years prologue has indeed ended for the Earl, but for Allen, it is only the beginning." He said, pulling Allen closer. "The Exorcists are the actors, the battlefield is his stage, so beware Black Order, The Destroyer of Time has become time itself."

Before anyone else could say anything, Kanda and Allen vanished into thin air together with all the Akuma, leaving the Black Order in a heavy atmosphere.

* * *

**Even Niamh doesn't know where this is going...hehehe...**

**And if y'll don't like Noah!Allen or Noah!Exorcists...well, I suggest you stop reading...D: oh and if you like Lev too...haha...not to say I hate him, but he does get on my nerves most of the time...XD**

**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**So...after reading finish Twilight and New Moon (I want to read Eclipse, but my friend loaned it to someone else...) I finally got some inspiration to write this! Thank you so much for the reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter too!**

**Thanks to: Niamh, for being my beta. ;)**

**Another thanks to Celestial Moonshine, for this lovely artwork! **

**http : / celestialthehedgird . deviantart . com / art / DGM - Pierrot - 92124613**

**DISCLAIMER: -man does not belong to me or Kanda would appear...NOW! XD  
**

**WARNING: Yaoi. And possible spoilers of a few characters if you're only following the anime.**

* * *

**5. Cruel**

"I don't understand this…" Linali whispered brokenly as she slumped to the ground beside Lavi. He too, was staring in shock at the empty space where Kanda and Allen had stood moments before. "I don't believe this…!" She said, clenching her fist.

She wasn't the only one, every finder and exorcist, even the scientists couldn't believe that their own general, Allen Walker had destroyed their home. If that wasn't enough, their best exorcist had also turned on them.

"Report this to the higher ups." Leverrier said to Link, and turned to Komui. "I was right in the end. Allen Walker is a traitor, and not only that, he turned an exorcist against us."

Komui's eyes widened. "There has to be something to explain this!" He protested, not wanting to believe this like everyone else. "Allen wouldn't have just turned to the Earl's side!"

"He has shown signs of siding with them since the Ark incident, and this has proven it." Leverrier said, glaring at Komui. "And he was the only one who could control the Ark. We all know that the 14th was the Musician, and an exorcist like him couldn't possibly do it."

"The Noahs could have done something to him!" Komui retorted, his expression angry. "We don't even know whether Allen is being controlled or not!"

"Then how do you explain Yuu Kanda's condition?"

Komui shut his mouth, teeth grinding together. Truly, he did not know how to explain _that_ one. Looking back into the destruction behind him, and how the finders were still trying to save people who were unfortunate enough to be hit with the concrete that fell, he felt…lost. Did Allen really intend for this to happen?

Feeling smug that he had won the fight, at least for now, Leverrier turned and stalked away, his satisfied smile never leaving his face.

* * *

Kanda emerged from the door that was Road's ability, and wasn't surprised to see the girl and Tyki waiting for them on the other side. The two however, were.

"Oh!" Road exclaimed, smiling after a while. "He really did mean it! No wonder it was so hard on him." She grinned, hopping towards Kanda, who held Allen in his arms.

Tyki shrugged, walking towards them too. "Come now, you two must be exhausted." He said warmly and with emotion, something Kanda thought he wasn't capable of. He kept these thoughts to himself though.

"Che."

Road laughed lightly at his response. "Ain't much of a talker, is he, Uncle Tyki!"

Kanda ignored them both as he stalked forward, already feeling uncomfortable. He could feel the vibration of his Innocence as it pulsed at the Akuma surrounding the vicinity, and he wondered how Allen had managed to keep his curse eye _and_ Innocence under control here.

"Stupid beansprout." He muttered half angrily. He spotted a couch not far from him and headed towards it, dropping Allen none too gently after that. The impact woke the younger boy up, and he blinked tiredly at the Japanese youth.

"Kanda?" he muttered, sitting up. "Ugh, I feel like shit."

Kanda scowled. Crossing his arms across his chest and stood there, waiting for Allen to be awake enough to talk to him. It didn't take long, and Allen looked up at him, his face serious.

"I suppose you want to start talking." Allen said calmly, lacing his hands together and placing them on his legs.

"I want to know why." Kanda stated. "I said I wasn't angry, but I never said I couldn't _get_ angry." He growled. "So _you_ start talking."

Allen sighed, looking around the room they were in. Tyki and Road were no where to be seen, probably taken off after seeing how unhappy Kanda was. The others were most likely out, killing time with their own entertainment. They had the privacy they needed. Gesturing to the seat opposite him, he waited till Kanda was seated before opening his mouth.

* * *

Linali sat on the couch opposite her brother, while he was busy clearing up documents that seemed important to move. Most of the papers on the ground were burnt from the attack a few days ago.

The Council had decided that the damage was too great to think about repairs, and arranged for the Headquarters to be relocated. The building that had faithfully served as the Black Order Headquarters for a century was left in that pitiful state, and Linali was glad they were actually leaving it.

"Hey."

The Chinese girl looked up to see Lavi, hands full of books as he passed her. He gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, and she gave one back. She stood up and grabbed the pile from his nearest hand. Komui said nothing as his sister walked out with Lavi, the atmosphere too heavy to even remember his sister complex.

"We're moving." Linali said, deadpanned. Lavi nodded.

"A new home, a new location." He muttered. He didn't look very happy about it.

"Is it wrong to be happy right now?" she asked, walking slowly.

Lavi slowed his pace to match hers. He sighed. "I guess not, depending on why you're happy."

"We're leaving this place." She said slowly. "This place…this…prison."

The red head glanced at his comrade, taking in her pained expression, and the tears pooling in her eyes. Then he remembered what this place was to her, it was the place that took her away from her only family. They kept her here, tracking her down when she tried to escape, tying her up when all she wanted was to go home. Those sick, sadistic bastards who made her life hell.

The rage was overwhelming when he thought of the things that Linali had to endure when she first came here. The pain, the agony, and the loneliness. His eye widened when he caught himself thinking that way.

"_What am I doing!"_ Lavi thought, shaking his head. _"I am the successor to Bookman; I can't…won't have attachments like this!" _ He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. _"I have no need for emotions, no heart. That's what I am, my reason for existing."_

He forced himself to look normal on the outside, and Linali took no notice as she was immersed in her own thoughts. Lavi's mind was working furiously, trying to make sense of why he had even reacted that way. He'd never needed a heart to record history, yet, the one emotion he had tried so hard to avoid was now crashing into him full force, and he could bet his life that his mentor would not be happy about this.

* * *

"I see." Kanda said quietly when Allen finished explaining. The white haired boy shrugged nonchalantly and smiled.

"That's everything, I guess."

"Was that why you touched my head?" Kanda questioned, glaring at him. Allen nodded.

"I knew you were the first to turn, so I tried to help as much as I could." He answered. "Of course, I should say you were lucky I noticed, or the transformation would have been really bad." Allen said. "Well, even with your curse present, that is." He added.

The lotus curse was something Allen had accidentally found out. While Allen knew Kanda had a fast healing rate, he had always questioned why. He stumbled upon his answer when he saw the tattoo on Kanda's chest getting bigger after the ark incident, and with some help from Lavi, he managed to piece the puzzle together after sneaking into Kanda's room one night and seeing the lotus. Needless to say, he nearly ended up six feet under when Kanda found out.

"Your curse heals the cuts on your forehead, that's why the crosses weren't visible, and that's why you've been bleeding so much." Allen explained. "But the healing can't take away the pain once it's started."

Kanda snorted. "Che, I could have handled it."

Allen smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I know. But it's something I'd rather not put you through…or anyone else for that matter."

He thought back to that night, when he had found Kanda leaning against the windowsill near Allen's room. His room was one of the rooms Kanda needed to pass to get to his own room. Kanda was gritting his teeth, his face painfully pale and even stood out in the dark. Allen of course, immediately knew what was going on when he smelled the copper taste of blood in the air, and touched Kanda's head, using his powers to calm the transformation for the time being.

Kanda never knew what Allen did, until now. But at that time, he hadn't really cared. Allen had taken away the head splitting ache and that was what mattered. The pain had been so intense that Kanda was almost tempted to hit his head to get rid of it. He muttered a thanks to Allen, surprising the younger boy, but he got over it and helped Kanda to the room, thankfully without getting his head cut off. Kanda never mentioned it in the morning.

"What exactly did you do?" Kanda asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Allen shrugged. "The 'tunes'…" Kanda looked confused at the word 'tunes', so Allen sighed and started explaining.

"I inherited the powers of the 14th musician, as the _Inspector_ has suspected." Allen spat, but he kept going. "I can hear the 'tunes' of people when I come into contact with them. 'Tunes' are…like a melody, well, to me at least." Allen laughed lightly. "Normally when I hear them, they're mostly calm, harmonious, or devoid of either. But when I touched you, yours was…in chaos."

Kanda raised an eyebrow.

"Chaos would mean, it was all jumbled up, I couldn't hear anything properly, so that means you were in pain, or scared." Allen explained. "And…Noahs have a different 'tune' in their heads, like…an overlapping one." He shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it well, but anyway, I tried to force the 'tunes' back into place with what powers I could call out without hurting you, and I guess I succeeded."

"And the pain?"

"Transferred to myself." Allen said casually, like it didn't mean anything.

Kanda glared at him. "You mean you took the pain!"

A shrug was his answer, and Kanda glared harder.

"Masochistic beansprout." He said in the end, knowing that getting angry wouldn't change what had passed.

"Am not." Allen retorted, but he smiled darkly. His twisted fate of being an exorcist, the Destroyer of Time, the hero of the holy war, really felt ironic to him at this point.

* * *

Lavi slammed his fist onto the sink below him, gritting his teeth as he tried not to scream in agony. The blood…it wouldn't stop coming, and the waves of pain came at him like the waves in the seas. Gripping the sink until his knuckles turned white did not help either.

"Oh, hell no." Lavi whispered as he pushed back his bangs, eyes narrowing.

God was cruel, especially to those who served in his name.

* * *

**That about wraps up this chapter! I guess you guys know where this ending is leading. haha...too obvious? And just to clear this up, yes, Kanda is a Noah.  
**

**Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I really didn't expect to get this chapter out any time before my exams, but having a new laptop really worked out, I could bring it to college and write...hehe. Hope you enjoy this chapter too!  
**

**Thanks to: Niamh, for being my beta. ;)**

**DISCLAIMER: -man does not belong to me or Allen wouldn't have to suffer so much. D:  
**

**WARNING: Yaoi. And...I don't think there's anymore spoilers for those who just follow the anime. We all know who Leverrier and Link are now. lol.  
**

* * *

**6. Desperation  
**

"Lavi?" Linali asked, knocking on his door. She had been there for a good ten minutes, and Lavi still hadn't answered her. Komui had requested all exorcists in the building to report to his office, and Lavi was the only one left.

"Lavi!" Linali huffed, knocking again. What was wrong with him?

She heard shuffling a while after, something knocking and some cursing. Then the door creaked open slowly, revealing his lone green eye, the sparkle long gone from it.

"What is it?" His voice hoarse, he blinked tiredly as Linali stood there in shock. It took her a few seconds to find her voice, though still slightly surprised by his state.

"Niisan wants us at his office." The Chinese girl said slowly, watching as the redhead nodded, then shook his head. He sighed tiredly, closing his eye.

"Sorry, Linali, I can't go…" he said. "I don't feel that well, could you just tell me later what's going on?"

Linali hesitated, but nodded in the end. Her brother was the one who called the meeting, so she doubted that he would mind, after all, Lavi looked really out of it. If it was Leverrier on the other hand…

Shaking her head, she gave Lavi a soft smile. "I'll come see you later, okay?"

Lavi grinned at her, despite his tiredness. "Sure, be looking forward to it…"

His smile dropped the moment Linali turned his back, and he closed the door softly, using what little self control he still had. Gritting his teeth in pain, he grabbed the nearest thing to him - the headboard, and clutched it tightly as he did the sink in the previous night. It didn't help much, but it was better than screaming, which would alert half the Order if he did, he was certain.

His room was in a mess, after he had saw the blood and cross marks, he stumbled out of the small bathroom in his room, knocking everything out of the way in his state of pain and desperation. His head was killing him, the ache coursed throughout every part of his body and bones, and he couldn't think straight. Lavi vaguely remembered sweeping everything off his desk, as if throwing a tantrum.

"Damn it…" Lavi groaned as another wave of pain washed through him, and he fell to his knees. He searched his memories on Kanda, wondering how he managed to endure the pain during his…transformation.

Lavi wasn't dumb, he knew exactly what was going on, but it didn't mean he was ready to accept it. He still wanted to know the reason behind all this, why Allen looked as though he took over for the Earl, why Kanda turned into a Noah and his back against the Order, why…this was happening to him next.

"Ah…" Lavi choked, gasping for breath as he was left without pain, at least for a few minutes. "God is cruel, isn't he?" he muttered to himself.

* * *

"Allen!"

The white haired boy cracked open his eyes at the call of his name, blinking a few times to get in focus. Road 's face came into view, and she smiled brightly when she saw that he had turned his gaze to her.

"Can't you feel it?" Road giggled, leaning back as Allen got up, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.

"Feel it…?" Allen repeated, not grasping what she said.

"Che. Someone else is turning." A deep voice interrupted, and the couch dipped down as someone sat on it.

"Ah…" Allen said, nodding. He could already feel it, now that he was awake, and he sighed. He didn't know who it was, and he couldn't help the person.

"I'll get ready the door to the Order to pick him up." Road sang as she skipped off merrily, happy that there was another addition to the Noah family.

Kanda said nothing and let the silence wash over the two, while Allen struggled to find the tunes of the person turning. As far as he could tell, it was an exorcist, for which he was somehow glad it wasn't a finder or scientist. Their location was a bit far from the Order, so he couldn't do anything much. Allen slumped back against the soft cushion, wondering how many would turn before the whole thing stopped.

"Oy, bean sprout."

Allen glanced at Kanda from the corner of his eyes, not bothering to look up. "What is it, baKanda?"

Kanda frowned at the name, but ignored it regardless. "Do you know…who it is?"

The cursed teen shook his head, bringing a hand to brush his long bangs back. "We're too far from the Order to allow me to determine exactly _who_ it is, but I can tell it's an exorcist."

"…'tunes' again?" Kanda questioned.

Allen sighed and smiled. "Yeah, comes in handy, but hearing the 'tunes' all the time can be annoying, especially when you're trying to think or sleep."

"Che. How do you know it's an exorcist then?"

"Like Noahs, they have an overlapping 'tune', except…it's more towards…something like a lullaby, I guess. It might be because of the Innocence." Allen replied, furrowing his brows as he tried to find the right words to describe what it was like. "The Noah's 'tunes' are more aggressive, like listening to rock music…though it's hard to compare." Allen chuckled.

Kanda 'che'ed but nodded, understanding. "So, we have to go pick him or her up?"

Allen groaned. "That's right, if we leave whoever is turning too long in the Order, Leverrier might find out and have them locked up or something…not that it would stop us."

"…you're worried about something, bean sprout." Kanda stated, noting how Allen bit his lip and fidgeted.

He gave Kanda a sad smile, and shrugged. "The pain of becoming a Noah, was something I managed to spare you of, thus you were able to function normally. But this time, I won't be able to help that person, not until I hear the exact 'tune' in their head." He paused, thinking hard. "The pain might linger after I calm the 'tunes', but I think it would be bearable, hopefully."

"So the sooner we leave the better?"

"Let's go." Allen agreed, getting up.

He only hoped the person wasn't suffering too much now.

* * *

Lavi wrapped the bandages around his head tightly and winced at the pressure, carefully placing his bandana above it. It wouldn't do him any good to stay in his room all day, not when Bookman was not around. He needed to do his part as Bookman's successor, which meant going about like he usually did.

Bookman had been sent on a mission together with Miranda a few days before the attack at Allen's hands, and they weren't back yet. Komui had assured Lavi that the silver buttons Allen had left behind didn't belong to either of them, for which he was glad.

He certainly wasn't ready to take over the task of recording history by Bookman yet.

Pulling himself together, he heaved a sigh. The pain had become bearable, enough to let him function properly. It had stopped stabbing at his body and reduced to a dull ache, as if someone had removed it. He didn't know what happened, but he wasn't going to complain, not when he could finally move without flinching.

"Lavi?" A small voice called out as he closed his room door. Linali was standing at the junction of the hallways, smiling a bit as she saw him, but then she frowned.

"Are you okay? You look…very pale." Linali said with concern, walking towards him. Lavi shrugged, grinning, hoping it appeared like his normal grin.

"Peachy, Linali." He joked. "So what was the meeting about this morning?" Lavi asked.

Linali exhaled, hugging herself with both arms. "Leverrier wants every exorcist available to be monitored, especially those close to Allen." she explained. "He has finders stationed at every entrance and exit in this building, and will have more at the new headquarters."

"So we're prisoners in our own home now?" Lavi frowned. "Is he really that scared more exorcists will turn against him?"

"Just those close to Allen, I think." Linali muttered. "Miranda and Bookman were called back too, and they're supposed to arrive later in the evening. No exorcists are to be dispatched on missions until we move, and there will be at least two finders with them, all who are certain that they won't betray Leverrier's trust."

"Talk about paranoid." Lavi chuckled without humor.

"…there's more…" Linali said after a while, slowing her speed. Lavi shot her a confused look, stopping when she did. "But it can't be discussed out here." she said, glancing around.

"Walls have ears and eyes?" Lavi stated, nodding. "Your room?"

Linali shook her head. "Library. Where you're suppose to be."

* * *

Allen slammed his hand into the nearest Akuma to him, effectively destroying the machine without needing the activation of his Innocence. Kanda stood silently at the side, not bothering to interfere or talk, knowing what was happening.

"Ah…!" Allen groaned, hitting another Akuma.

Falling to his knees, he clawed at the hard ground, gritting his teeth in pain. "Can't…concentrate…." He bit out, both his hands clutching his head, willing the pain away. The pain this time was worse than Kanda's, Allen thought as he tried to concentrate on calming the raging 'tunes' in his head. Was it because he transferred it when it had already occurred halfway?

"Beansprout." Kanda said, appearing beside the cursed teen, who lay on the ground, unmoving.

Turning the boy over gently, his ebony eyes met gray, and he found Allen staring at him through unfocused, glassy eyes. Kanda lightly tapped Allen's face, wondering if the pain had been too much for the boy and he had fainted. But Allen frowned when Kanda's hand touched his face, and then he exhaled.

"Don't worry…bout it…" Allen breathed, his words coming out in whispers. "It's…the same as yours…" His eyes remained wide and empty, as though he couldn't see.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Kanda demanded, pulling Allen to stand on his feet, and wrapping his arms around Allen's shoulder when he nearly fell face first towards the ground.

Allen shrugged. "It's the same as yours, I said. I was like this too."

Kanda sighed in frustration as his hold on Allen loosened, and Allen wobbled a bit, before regaining his balance. His lost of sight did not seem to bother him much. Allen closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath, and began to walk forward, relying on all his other senses.

"Come on, we need to get to the Order fast. I might have taken the pain, but that doesn't mean the person is safe."

Kanda said nothing as he began walking towards the direction Allen went, wondering who was the next one.

* * *

"What?" Lavi gasped, not believing his ears. "Komui wants us to do that?"

Linanli nodded sadly, her expression grave. "Tonight, if possible."

"B-But…you said every entrance and exit!" Lavi exclaimed, not bothering to keep his volume down. They were in the back room of the library, where no one was allowed in except Bookman and himself. No one even came this far back into the library.

"I know, he said the best chance was during the shift change." Linali said confidently. "He'll try to help as best as he can, but he wants us to get out of here."

"And leave him behind?" the redhead questioned.

Linali bit her lip, it seemed as though she didn't like the idea either. "He's head of the Science Department, he said he has to stay." she said softly, tears pricking her eyes.

"The most important issue is us exorcists. If we don't get out of here, who knows what Leverrier is planning to do with us?" Linali reasoned, her eyes begging. "I don't like it anymore than you do, but - Lavi!" the girl cried, seeing he was slumped to the ground, a disbelief expression on his face. "It is the only way!"

Lavi laughed, his face having drawn into a disbelieving expression. "I can't believe this…" He said, shaking his head. "They would brainwash us for their own sick purpose?"

Linali's face hardened as she watched Lavi pick himself up. "You know how the higher ups work, Lavi. This isn't the first time they've handled this kind of issue. And you know it won't be the last." She said coldly. "If you won't go through with it, I will, even alone."

Lavi stared at the girl in front of him, his eye widening slightly at the harsh edge her voice held. Clenching his fist, he nodded. "Sorry…must have lost too much blood." He grumbled, wondering if the blood had seeped through his bandana. "You're right, we have to leave. Tonight." he paused, thinking of something else. "What about Panda and Miranda?"

"Komui has managed to get the message across, before the meeting." Linali said, smiling a little. "They won't be coming back here, at least for now. We're supposed to meet up with them somewhere in China."

"That's a long journey." Lavi said thoughtfully, but nodding his head. "Alright, let's get ready then."

"Get ready?" A new voice interrupted, startling the two exorcists. "May I inquire, just where do you think you both are getting ready to go?"

The door slowly opened to reveal a familiar face, and Linali's breath caught in her throat as her eyes widened at the entrance of the person.

What had happened to the faith and hope that God had given them once upon a time?

* * *

**Another chapter, all wrapped up with a nice cliffy, don't you just love em? XDD**

**So what happens to Lavi next? And cookies for those who guess who is the person! LOL!**

**Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Once again, I completed a chapter without procrastinating _too much_. Heehee... and cookies for those who guessed right! ...I was in the middle of guessing who was at the door to, actually. XD And thanks for reviews! I love em! :D  
**

**Thanks to: Niamh, for being my beta. ;)**

**DISCLAIMER: -man does not belong to me or I'd make Leverrier reveal what he's gonna do!  
**

**WARNING: Yaoi. Shounen ai. YULLEN!  
**

* * *

**7. Pain**

"W-we weren't planning on going anywhere." Linali said, calming herself down. "We were just getting ready the materials we needed for…studying." She finished lamely. Link stood at the door, frowning.

"Two Dots, don't you know this place is for Bookman only?" Lavi said, grinning. "Linali needed some help with books, so I brought her here."

"Inspector Leverrier wanted to see Linali Lee." Link said after a while, deciding to ignore whatever they had been talking about. It would most probably leak out sooner or later.

Linali's eyes widened, and she glanced at Lavi, who gritted his teeth. Why would Leverrier want to see Linali? Had something happened?

"He says it's urgent." Link continued. "All exorcists are being called into the office one at a time." He turned to Lavi. "You might be called next, so be ready."

Lavi's grin did not fade from his face, although he felt more like frowning. They couldn't afford to give anything away right now. Linali was shaking like she usually did when Leverrier was mentioned, but Lavi could do little to comfort the poor girl.

He had his own problems to worry about.

"I…I gotta go now!" Lavi said, shocking Linali, who looked at him in alarm. He shot her an apologetic smile. "Sorry Linali, I'll help you next time."

The blood, he could feel it seeping through the tight bandages on his head. It would definitely seep through his bandana if he didn't do anything about it.

"Lavi…!"

Lavi all but ran through the door, leaving Linali and Link in the room alone, as he sprinted through the big library, trying to reach his room before the blood could be seen. He couldn't risk it, he needed to be here, he didn't want to be marked and imprisoned as a traitor.

"Goddamn it all." Lavi muttered as he reached his door, yanking it open and slamming it close as soon as he was inside. Glancing at the mess that was his room, he sighed, pulling off the piece of cloth from his forehead. Grabbing a small piece of mirror on the ground, he grimaced when he saw the bandage was blood red, not white anymore.

"Stupid crosses and bleeding." The redhead cursed as he unwound the offending bandage, throwing it to one side.

The blood flow wasn't stopping, so Lavi grabbed a piece of cloth and tied it to his forehead, deciding that he would bandage it up later when they were leaving the Order. He was only worried that Linali might not make it tonight because of Leverrier. He regretted not staying to find out what the Inspector had wanted.

"Shit…" Lavi muttered, throwing a few pieces of clothing into an open suitcase. "Leverrier's going to want to see me, too."

"Oh?"

"Whatever the fuck he wants, I'm sure it's not going to be pleasant."

"Indeed, well said."

"Of course it's well said, who doesn't know that Leverrier spells trouble? Or maybe we'd get screwed up-"

The redhead stopped short, a cold chill running up his spine as he realized he wasn't talking to himself. His lone green eye narrowed as he turned slowly to face the figure sitting on his bed, smiling at him.

"Good evening, Lavi." Allen said, expression bright as though he wasn't a Noah sitting in a room in the Black Order. "I see you're quite busy."

"What the fuck…" Lavi didn't finish, his hand reached towards his Innocence by his leg, but another pale hand came and grabbed it out of it's holder. The owner of which proceeded to grab Lavi by his neck and slam him into the wall beside them.

"Y-Yuu…" Lavi choked out, the hard surface of the wall digging into his skin.

"Shut up." Kanda said, glaring at his best friend. "Your Innocence is useless here."

"That's right." Allen said, getting up from his position. "With your Noah genes running amok, the Innocence will not listen to your command." The cursed teen explained, walking towards the two. "It's time to go, Lavi.

"The fuck I will!" Lavi said through gritted teeth. "I'd rather die than follow Noahs!"

He was shocked, or at least thrown off balance when he saw Allen winced at his outburst. Lavi thought Allen didn't care anymore, a Noah was a Noah, that was that. Kanda however, wasn't as soft as Allen and growled as he pushed Lavi against the wall harder.

"Shut the fuck up, baka usagi." Kanda turned to Allen, and nodded. "Get Road to open the door, I'll drag this idiot." Allen nodded after a while, and snapped his fingers, just as someone knocked on the door. The three occupants in the room froze.

"Lavi?" A soft voice called. "Are you in there?"

"Linali." Kanda said in a whisper. "Of all the times."

"Go through the door first." Allen ordered, slapping a hand on Lavi's mouth when the redhead opened it. "Don't argue with me either, baKanda."

Kanda ignored the shorter teen, and turned to Lavi instead. "Che. You better not make a sound or I'll drop you out the window."

Lavi glared hard at the Japanese man, and Kanda smirked. "Maybe that's not such a bad idea."

Allen turned back to the door as Kanda walked towards the window, which made Lavi panic. What were they going to do? Was Kanda really going to drop him? What would happen to Linali?

He met Allen's gaze when he turned. Allen's breathing was slightly labored, but he gave Lavi a small smile.

"…don't worry. She'll be fine."

And that was all he heard before the darkness consumed them.

* * *

"Lavi, I'm coming in-" Linali was cut off when the door swung open, revealing no nothing but the mess of cloths and books on the ground. Link stood beside her, looking into the room, frowning at the mess.

"Lavi?" Linali called, taking a step into the room. She glanced around to see that no one was there, and began worried.

"Are you certain he came back to the room?" Link questioned, turning to the Chinese girl, who shook her head.

"I just assumed this was the first place he'd go." Linali replied. "I'll look around. You can…go."

Link made no move to leave, and Linali sighed. So much for privacy. Turning around to walk out since she could not be alone, she froze when she felt something cold touching her hand, and she whipped her head back, seeing nothing.

"What is it?" Link asked, confused at the girl's actions.

"No…" Linali said softly. "It was nothing."

* * *

"Oh?" Tyki said, his eyebrow raised when Kanda came through the door with a redhead on his back. "You found him so soon?"

"Che."

Road smiled like the kid she was and bounced her way to Kanda, scrutinizing Lavi, who was unconscious. "Heh…it's the redhead that wanted to kill Uncle Tyki!" Road exclaimed, giggling.

Tyki smirked, bending down when he reached Kanda so he could see Lavi's face. "Indeed. How ironic, for him to be one of us." The Noah of Pleasure reached out to touch the dried blood on Lavi's forehead, smirking when the exorcist winced. "Looks like he's almost completed." Tyki said, turning to Kanda, who was glaring at nothing in particular. The Japanese man had already gotten used to Tyki and Road, but that never meant he liked them.

"There's a room already set up for him." Tyki continued, seeing that Kanda had not moved. "I'll take him off your hands-"

"No." Kanda cut him off. "I'll drop him there. Where's the room?"

"Beside yours."

Before Kanda could take another step, Allen had appeared behind them, his face paler than before. Tyki and Road immediately moved to stand beside him, but the white haired teen waved them off.

"I'm…fine." Allen chocked out. "K-Kanda…"

Kanda turned to look at him, but otherwise made no move.

"Give Lavi to…Tyki." Allen said. "And come with me."

Kanda obeyed wordlessly, transferring his burden to Tyki, stopping for a moment just a moment to press Nyoibo into Tyki's free hand.

"Che. Give it to that idiot when he wakes up." The Japanese man said. "Don't destroy it." He warned.

Road eyed the Innocence, the Noah within her struggling to break it, but she resisted. Tyki seemed to have no problem, and he smiled.

"Of course."

Kanda walked into Allen's room after him, turning around after shutting the door when Allen suddenly leaned his head on Kanda's shoulder. The Japanese stiffened, but relaxed after a while.

"Che, what is it?" Kanda asked after a moment, wondering what had happened to the white haired teen.

Allen shook his head, wrapping his arms around Kanda's waist, surprising him. "Just…let me be for a while…" he muttered into Kanda's shirt.

'_Because I know you'd kill me if I wasn't sick, and you'd probably run if you knew the truth…'_

Kanda said nothing, although his brain was telling him to push the boy away, he forced his body not to obey the screaming command, choosing instead to just stand there and allow Allen to lean against him. He made no move to return the embrace, however. Kanda had become accustomed to Allen's pain, because he'd seen Lavi holding Allen one too many times for comfort, and all those times Allen had a torturous expression on his face, and Kanda had somehow wished he knew what was bothering Allen.

But he'd rather commit seppuku than admit to that he cared for the younger teen.

"Hey…Kanda?" Allen muttered after what seemed like hours. Kanda grunted, indicating he was listening.

"If you had to choose…" Allen continued. "…would you rather die than become a Noah?"

The question caught Kanda off guard, because he just **knew** Allen was referring to what Lavi had said and he turned to look at the younger teen's face, only to find his eyes closed, his breathing even. He had fallen asleep standing.

"Baka." Kanda mumbled, he wrapped his arms around Allen's shoulder loosely, bending down to breath the scent of his hair. "You get affected too easily by people's words, stupid martyr."

* * *

The soft and smooth texture of the surface he was lying on wasn't something he was used to, being accustomed to sleeping on the many books that laid scattered on his bed. The difference woke him.

The first thing he remembered was his Innocence, which his hand automatically went to the side of his leg for, only to find the holder empty. He groaned lightly, thinking he had left it on the table when his brain caught up with all the events and his eye flew opened hurriedly.

"Good evening." A smooth silk voice said, alerting Lavi to another presence in the room he was in. He jumped from the bed he was lying on, landing on the hard floor, and immediately winced at the ache in his head.

"You shouldn't move yet." Tyki said, flipping on the lights in the room. "Your head must be killing you right now."

Lavi growled, getting into a defensive stance. "The only thing that'll kill me is you, Noah!" Tyki smiled at that. "Now where the fuck is Nyoibo and where the hell am I?" The redhead narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"You're in the one of the Noah's many mansions." Tyki replied, resting his face on his hand, which was propped up on the armrest of the chair he sat. "And as I said earlier, you'd best not move around much, your head must really be aching. I dare say you're not even thinking straight right now."

"I'm fucking thinking straight right now!" Lavi retorted, taking a daring step forward. "Where is my Innocence!"

Tyki sighed, rolling his eyes. "You wouldn't be able to activate it anyway, so what's the use of having the thing?"

"It's a form of security!" Lavi bit out, surprised that he bothered to answer anyway.

"Ah…" Tyki nodded in understanding. "Very well, here…" He pulled Nyoibo out of his coat pocket. "Kanda-san told me specifically not to destroy it."

"Yuu?" The name caught Lavi by surprise and he almost didn't catch his Innocence when Tyki tossed it at him. He glanced from his hammer to Tyki, and back at his hammer again. "What?"

He couldn't think straight, and he'd hate to admit that Tyki had been right, the pain in his head was clouding his thoughts, and he gritted his teeth, trying to make sense of the events happening. He was so immersed in his thoughts, he didn't see Tyki getting up and approaching him, until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Lavi?"

Lavi immediately recoiled at the touch, glaring at the Noah of Pleasure. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" He shouted, grasping Nyoibo as though it was his lifeline. Tyki's eyes narrowed at Lavi's outburst, and Lavi thought Tyki had finally lost his patience, seeing the slight anger in his gold eyes. Thinking the Noah was going to hit him or assault him in some way, he braced himself for whatever was coming.

"…_Fine_." Tyki spat out after a few moments of awkward silence between the former exorcist and himself. "I'll be back to check on you in an hour. With _**food**_. You're _**welcome**_." He said sarcastically, rolling his eyes again.

He was out of the door in seconds, and Lavi winced when the door slammed loudly. He gawked at the door after Tyki left, not believing what he had heard.

"Food?" Lavi sputtered, really confused.

Tyki was later seen fuming as he walked down the halls down to where the family dining room was. Road saw his angered expression and grinned brightly. "Was he not to your liking?"

The oldest Noah snickered when Tyki glared at her, immediately turning to get out of the room as fast as he could. The Noah of Pleasure certainly would have an interesting time with Bookman Junior…soon.

The Gods in which they believed, were they really so different?

* * *

**Betas' Note: **MORE! Give us MORE! Dark is a sadist for making these chapters so short! Lameface!

**Well dang, I didn't notice that note when I re-read the chapter. ROFL. Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Heehee...No I won't make it longer. XD**

**Please review! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I had exams last week so I was on break from writing this, but then again I've been on hiatus since July, as stated in my profile, and yet I'm still writing…LOL.**

**Anyway, I had some people chase me for an update, because I wasn't doing anything! OTL. I will update more! I…do not promise. I ain't making promises I can't keep thank you very much. But I made it a habit to write when I'm idle in college, so I hope updates will be faster…soon.**

**Thanks to: Niamh, for being my beta. ;) and SisterWicked for helping me in some parts. XD  
**

**DISCLAIMER:**** does not belong to me, because it must be a sin to end the whole anime at episode 103! TT Oh and I'd probably have Kanda appear more if I DID own it. **

**WARNING:**** The anime is coming to an end, and I started this story before the 14****th**** arc in the manga, so I'm pretty certain everyone knows what the hell I'm talking about now. ;)**

* * *

**8. Comprehension  
**

The Order was in chaos at the discovery that Lavi was missing, every available Finder searched the Headquarters building from top to bottom over the course of two days. Linali was in hysterics, being the last person to see the absent boy apart from Inspector Link, and his mysterious disappearance was eerily similar to the earlier attack and withdrawal by the Noah. The Inspector had confirmed the Exorcist's departure from the library, stating that shortly thereafter he could not be located.

"Where would he have gone?" Linali said quietly, refusing to think that Lavi would have gone ahead with leaving the headquarters without her, and his disappearance was too similar to Allen's, apart from the fact that he wasn't on a mission. She didn't think that Lavi would leave without her though, since they had it all planned out. Unfortunately Leverrier's meeting with her had delayed her, and Komui couldn't do anything about it. She may have made them miss their only chance of escaping.

"Another exorcist?" Leverrier asked as soon as he walked through the Science Department doors, his narrowed eyes narrowing further and frown deepening. "Allen Walker truly wishes to wage war against us then?"

Linali snapped her attention towards the Inspector as soon as she heard Allen's name being mentioned. She glared at him from the seat she sat in, across from her brother's table. "What do you mean!" She demanded. "Why is Allen-kun dragged into this suddenly?"

Leverrier looked at her in surprised, before his lips pulled up into that smirk that she hated so much, his eyes mocking her. "If he can take one of our best exorcist with him, I'm sure he can take another." He said with that 'Isn't that obvious?' tone of his, which made Linali angrier.

"Don't jump to assumptions, Inspector!" Komui interrupted, halting Linali in what she was about to do. Though he was not sure of what she _did_ want to do, he would rather not risk it, for her sake. "We do not know anything for sure! Lavi could have left the Order on his own will perhaps, or maybe as Bookman junior!" Komui massaged his temples in frustration, shaking his head.

"Ah." the Inspector backed down, turning his attention towards the Chinese man. "That may be so, he is from the Bookman clan after all, they come and go unexpectedly."

Linali's glare remained. Aimed at the Inspector whom she had been so terrified of once upon a time; now wasn't the time to feel afraid, not when he was throwing ridiculous assumptions about her friends, her comrades, her _family_. Reever's cough brought her back to reality, and she sat quietly as Reever patted her shoulder on his way to stand in front of Komui's desk.

"There still isn't any trace of him." The Section Chief reported. "Belongings are all still intact, maybe a few books missing, it's hard to tell." Reever sighed. "His room is in such a mess that it looks like someone raided it." He gave a shrug. "Then again, his room has been like that since he came to the Order, and there's no sign of any forced entry, anywhere." Reever glanced at Leverrier. "He might have just left on his own will after all."

Komui nodded, pushing his glasses up and looking towards Leverrier and Linali. "If there's been no sign of forced entry, I think it would be safe to say that Allen is not involved in Lavi's disappearance." _Although there is the possibility he used the Ark, but…No, I'd rather not think about it. _He pointed his face to Leverrier, who's frown deepened. "He might have left seeing that he no longer wished to record history here, and maybe went on to another war. They have the tendency to do that anyway, as I recall."

"Very well, we shall leave it at that…for now." Leverrier replied, turning his back on them. "Keep looking until you find him though, the Innocence with him…if he has left the Order, it will have to be returned to Hevlaska." he finished, walking right back out from where he came from.

Komui sighed quietly. "Of course."

Reever waited till the Inspector was out of hearing range before he turned to Komui again. "Actually Komui, there's another thing we found…"

* * *

The food he had left on the table when he returned was half gone, and he was just glad the redhead actually ate it without thinking it might be poisoned. Maybe he finally saw the fact that they were on the same side. It _had_ been three days since he came here. Tyki was really looking forward to a visit where they wouldn't just sit and stare in an awkward silence. Maybe, just maybe.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

Or maybe not.

Tyki sighed, this was going to be another long, awkward day. Allen and Kanda hadn't came out of the room since the day they brought Lavi back. Road was busy trying to get Lero to talk again, so he was stuck babysitting the new Noah in the household. He shook his head as he took a seat at the chair near the window, while Lavi stayed where he was, sitting by the windowsill, gazing out into the deep blue sky. His expression shifted slightly as the Noah of Pleasure made himself comfortable in the chair.

Neither of them talked, as Tyki knew it would just end up with Lavi shouting or throwing a tantrum. It had happened the first night, after all. The following two days were the same, and today was the first time Lavi had eaten the food left there. Seems like the redhead had his limits too. Tyki was just slightly surprised that Lavi hadn't tried hurting himself yet, especially when he knew the apprentice Bookman wanted nothing more than to smash his head against the mirrors whenever he caught sight of the line of crosses on his forehead.

"…I saw a bird today." Tyki said randomly, hoping the redhead would respond civilly.

"I saw a fucked up person today." Lavi drawled, his gaze not shifting from the window.

"I'll just shut up now." Tyki replied, slumping down on the chair, resigning. The redhead was never going to accept his new role. Tyki knew he might as well get comfortable as he continue his supervision.

"Good idea." The boy muttered, without turning. "Besides that, do you think I could get some books or something? I want something interesting to look at while I fall from grace."

Tyki chuckled, slightly glad for a change in speech instead of the usual 'just shut the fuck up and I'll happily do the same' attitude. "Perhaps."

"What are you, the Noah of Nothing Better To Do? Why the hell do you keep coming back here anyway?" Lavi scowled, glaring toward the nonplussed Noah. Tyki raised an eyebrow. Now that was an insult he had yet to hear before. The Portuguese man sighed, shaking his head.

"How else could we be sure that you won't hurt yourself or betray us?" He replied lazily, as if the point were obvious. "The others are busy, I'm certain that Allen is tired after taking the pain of the change from you and Kanda-san. And Kanda-san is most likely taking care of Allen."

"What did you say?" Lavi asked, suddenly alert. "Allen took the pain in what?"

Tyki blinked, and it took him a few seconds to understand what Lavi didn't understand. "Oh, you didn't know?" He asked, surprised. "I thought you Bookman notice every detail of the happenings to yourself, especially."

"We do." Lavi retorted. "But I don't get what you said, what did Allen do?" He asked, growing impatient.

"When you were changing into a Noah…" Tyki explained. "There were splitting headaches, blood, a hammering ache throughout your whole body." Lavi nodded, still not understanding. "The feel like you want to kill something and the bloodlust, don't tell me…you thought they'd just disappear out of the blue?"

Lavi stood stunned, his hand going to the side of his head, where the ache had been unbearable. "Allen…took that?" The redhead said slowly, as if only realizing the pain had been gone. He vaguely remembered wondering what had happened when the pain had dulled one day. "He…how…but he…" He couldn't find the words to say, he just couldn't believe Allen took that pain and suffered in his place. "What!"

Tyki sighed, shaking his head again at the state the boy was in. It was surprising, since Lavi seemed so against being a Noah, and with just one statement, his resolve was crumbling. "Allen has the ability to take away your pain, just by listening." Lavi gave him a confused look, but Tyki shrugged it off. "That is Allen's story to tell, the bottom line is, Allen took your pain. He's suffering it in your place, as he did for Kanda-san."

Lavi leaned his head against the cool glass, trying to make the gears in his head move faster to process all he heard. The pain from the change, Allen took his and Kanda's, he's suffering because he didn't want them to, he took it two times, while Lavi couldn't stand it himself. And…because of the invasion and the deaths of the people of the Order, he thought Allen had became a heartless person.

A heartless person.

That thought struck a nerve in him, hard. Lavi's eye widened when he thought about it.

"I don't understand one thing though." Tyki said suddenly, snapping Lavi's attention to him. "You _are_ from the Bookman clan, right?"

There was no response, and Tyki hadn't been expecting one anyway. "So why are you so against being a Noah?" He asked, looking straight into Lavi's eye. "Bookman are supposed to be observers, they don't choose sides, they are emotionless and heartless, yet you…why are you so attached to the Order's side?"

"…Fuck." Lavi muttered, covering his eyes with his right hand, while his left dangled beside him. Tyki's eyebrow raised higher at the redhead's responds, but he stayed quiet, waiting for an answer. Lavi bit his lip, cursing the fact that Tyki had voiced out his thoughts coincidentally.

_Bookman have no need for a heart to record history._

"I know that." Lavi mumbled, the words echoing in his head like a mantra. "I fucking know those damn rules."

_I have no name, no history. My personality is just a made up lie for the time being, for the sake of recording the hidden history._

Lavi, it was just a name, attached to this body. Just like Deak, his previous log name, and the previous forty seven names. Why was Lavi so different?

_Why…? Why was being the forty ninth the hardest? Why, Lavi!_

The small, broken voice of his inner Bookman self had questioned him, when he was lying in the waters of Road's realm.

_You…were the one that changed._

"Changed…" Lavi mumbled, shaking his head. He chuckled without humor, and Tyki continued to watch on. "I've changed." He said, as if just realizing the fact. "I've lost the qualifications it takes to be a Bookman…I don't want to die, I don't want to be erased!" Lavi exclaimed, clutching his head suddenly with both hands, his expression fearful. "He'll surely erase 'Lavi' once he knows!"

Tyki stood his place for a few moments, watching Lavi pull his legs up to his chest, lowering his head between them. His shoulders were hunched, and he was trembling, whether from fear or not, Tyki wasn't sure. He threw caution out of the window and took a step towards the new Noah, his hand reached out as though he was going to touch him, but it hovered over Lavi's head, and Tyki had second thoughts then. He contemplated pulling his hand back, when the ex-exorcist spoke.

"If you're going to put that hand on my head, just fucking do it already."

That shocked Tyki, and his hand stayed where it was, until Lavi lifted his own to bring it down onto his head, and Tyki was speechless. Just a few moments ago he still resented the Noah's touch, and now…he was welcoming the contact. Deciding to push his luck as far as he could, he sat down opposite the redhead, and moved closer when Lavi did not say anything.

"It would be a lie to say it's going to be fine, isn't it?" Tyki said quietly, patting the thick mass of red hair. Lavi nodded, his fist clenching and unclenching.

"It is." Lavi spoke. "But it's better than saying anything else."

Tyki smiled softly, finally, they were getting somewhere.

* * *

Kanda frowned and grumbled curses under his breath when the morning light invaded the room, rousing him from his slumber. He grudgingly wondered who the hell forgot to draw the curtains of the room, and shifted to get off the bed when the weight on his lap reminded him that someone was there. Cracking open his eyes, he glanced down to see Allen sleeping peacefully, as he had been for the past two days. Nothing would make him wake up, not even the smell of food.

"Che." Kanda leaned back against the bed frame, wondering how long it would be before he could move. Allen had been using his lap as a pillow, so he couldn't - and didn't want to - move. He was glad he didn't have much to do around the mansion, and Lulubell would drop in with food at the appropriate times.

Sighing, Kanda moved slowly around Allen so that he could draw the curtains, as the sunlight was really starting to annoy him. Even before becoming a Noah, he had hated the sunlight and preferred the darkness of his own room, which was usually dimly lit by the glow of his lotus flower. Sliding Allen's head off his lap gently, he made to get off the bed when he realized he couldn't reach the curtains. He barely got two steps away from the bed when he couldn't go on, and his eye twitched in annoyance when he realized Allen had grabbed his white shirt.

"Tch, let go you stupid bean." Kanda grumbled, trying to pry Allen's grip off his shirt, but the teen's hand stubbornly stayed clenched around the white material. His expression shifted to a frown, and he unconsciously pulled Kanda back.

"Mhmm…don't go…"

Raising an eyebrow, Kanda made a face at the clingy attitude Allen had, even in his sleep. Just as he was thinking about taking off his shirt so he could move, there was a knock on the door.

"What?" He called, shaking Allen's hand to see if it would come loose.

No such luck.

"Kanda?" The familiar voice of the Noah of Lust called back, and Kanda sighed. He had been doing that a lot lately. Changing into a Noah…no, before he even experience the change he had been acting oddly _nice_ towards his friends, especially _Allen_. He didn't understand why, he just had. Linali had gave him knowing smiles sometimes when he unconsciously acted like that, but he still didn't understand what she understood.

"Kanda?" Lulubell repeated when the Japanese youth didn't answer, and he snapped out of his thoughts, returning to reality.

"Che, I'm here."

"Is Allen awake?" Lulubell asked as she opened the door, blinking at the scene before her, with Allen on the bed, hand outstretched and clenching Kanda's shirt while Kanda had an annoyed expression on his face. "Oh, is this a bad time?" The female Noah said, with a hint of amusement in her voice. It reminded her of the first time she came in and saw Kanda and Allen on the bed, with the younger teen using Kanda's lap as a pillow.

"Don't even tell me what you're thinking right now." Kanda growled, sitting back down on the bed. "What is it?"

Lulubell let out a small laugh, nodding. She had changed since Allen came. Before, she had always been in the room where the Earl had set up the new Ark, mourning for the lost of their Master. Now, she was smiling more and laughing, even Mimi noticed. "It seems like Lavi has finally came out of his room." The blonde said, crossing her arms across her chest. "Tyki is with him."

"Che, about time." Kanda said, closing his eyes. "That stupid brat."

He knew how hard it was for Lavi, since he had experienced first hand on how the redhead had resisted coming with them, Kanda had chosen to follow Allen willingly once he figured out what was wrong with him, and he had thought Lavi would do the same. Seems like he had thought wrong, but it was all for the sake of…

"Where is he now?"

Lulubell shrugged. "Tyki said he was taking him out, and Road went with him."

Kanda heaved another sigh, propping his arm against his knees and leaning his head onto it. "As long as they don't cause a commotion…"

Lulubell opened her mouth to reply, but then her gaze shifted to somewhere behind him, and he knew she was staring at Allen. The Japanese man turned to see Allen's eyes half open, his eyes not seeing anything in front of him, and Kanda wasn't even sure Allen was awake. But Allen's hand was still curled around the fabric of his shirt, so Kanda assumed the cursed teen was still sleeping, and leaned back to close his eyes. Before his hand touched Allen's face however, Allen's breath quickened suddenly, and he opened his mouth to mumbled something.

"…Another…began…" Allen mumbled, before his eyes dropped close and his breathing evened out again, signaling he had fallen asleep.

"Che." Kanda muttered, turning away. The familiar tingling in his chest told him all he needed to know about what Allen had said, and Lulubell nodded her head.

"So, will this be our last, or is this just the beginning?"

In the eyes of the God they served, were they just mere puppets playing the roles they had been assigned?

* * *

**And this chapter was longer than I originally planned, not to mention more focused on Lavi. Well, he had to have time. XD**

**Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Well, this is another chapter! Thanks for the lovely reviews previously, and this chapter is shorter than normal, but...well, it works. Hope you enjoy this one too!  
**

**DISCLAIMER: does not belong to me, or I'd have moar fillers with Kanda!  
**

**WARNING: Non. Just Exorcists turn Noah. Durrr!**

* * *

**9. Conservative**

It was a dark night, Linali thought to herself as she walked through the dark hallways of the Black Order. There was no moon tonight, and her shoes made soft clicking sounds as she walked, wandering aimlessly. After Lavi's disappearance, there wasn't anyone to talk to anymore, and the surveillance on all available Exorcists had been even stricter. Link was assigned to follow her like he had Allen, even though Komui objected to it, an order was an order. The only difference was that they didn't sleep in the same room, which Linali was thankful for. That would have been a horrible experience.

Passing by the Science Department, she noticed there was light coming from the room and pushed the door open slightly to peer inside.

Komui stood with his back facing the door, his hand holding the black telephone as he spoke into it.

"…No? Then I…no, it's not…I see…" He was murmuring, his voice sounding urgent. "Never mind. I understand."

Linali stayed silent as she watch her brother sigh, before nodding. She didn't have the slightest clue as to what he was talking about or who he was talking to, but he seemed so tired, and she wished he would take a rest sometimes. Deciding that she shouldn't be eavesdropping, she closed the door quietly, and continued her walk down the hall.

Her family…would they continue to be torn from her?

* * *

Allen woke up in the dark, feeling groggy as if he had overslept by only God knew how long. He blinked several times before he realized he wouldn't be able to see anything, even with his eyes open, so he closed them, giving a soft sigh. His head hurt.

"Moyashi?"

Allen lifted his head, trying to locate where the voice came from. "Kanda?"

The sheets ruffled loudly, and he felt the mattress move. "Che. Who else are you sleeping on?" A disgruntled replied was given, and Allen waved it off.

"Oh…right." He said, feeling a little awkward.

Kanda said nothing more as he shifted, trying to get into a comfortable position. He had been doing that all night, when Allen had suddenly woken up. If surprised him, since the teen had been sleeping like the dead for the past few days. Allen was silent, and Kanda thought he had gone back to sleep, when he spoke.

"I can't…see." Allen said quietly, opening his eyes to try to see the other.

"Che." Kanda rolled his eyes. "It's midnight, there's no light. Of course you can't see." He replied, a bit grumpy because he hadn't been able to sleep properly with Allen using his lap as his personal pillow. Reaching out blindly to the bedside table, the Japanese man tried to find the light switch. Feeling the familiar material of the mechanism, he flipped it up.

Allen yelped in surprised when the light came on, his eyes not used to the brightness so that it brought tears to them. He immediately screwed his lids shut and brought his hand up to rub at them. He heard Kanda snort at his behavior, and he tried to open his eyes, squinting through them. He noticed Kanda had his eyes closed, something that would have helped with the sudden brightness that invaded his eyesight. He groaned.

"BaKanda." Allen muttered. "You could have warned me."

"Tch. You said you couldn't see." The Japanese man replied sarcastically, his lips curling into a smirk, and Allen could just feel the smugness radiating from the older man.

The British teen shook his head, hands still covering his face. "You're such an asshole."

"Shut it, bean."

"Jerk."

"Fucking martyr."

"Am not."

"Che."

Allen huffed, but a smile tugged at his lips when he realized how _normal _they were acting. The small act of bickering was like their everyday routine back when they were both Exorcists, when everything wasn't as complicated as it was right this moment. Vaguely he wondered if they would ever go back to how they had lived their lives in those days. It all seemed so far away.

"-shi?"

Kanda stared at the teen, who still had his head on the Japanese man's lap. He hadn't been responding at all, and after calling him for the third time, Kanda was starting to feel a little pissed. His lips quirked up in a smirk as an idea came to his mind and he raised his hand.

He hit the British boy on the head, hard.

"Ow!" Allen exclaimed, hands flying up to the spot where Kanda had -brutally- assaulted. He swiftly lifted his head off where it rested, glaring at his companion as he rubbed the sore spot. "What the hell was that for?" He growled out, wincing when his fingers touch the bump. "That hurt!"

"Che. I felt like it." Kanda lied smoothly, turning away from the younger. He would never admit that it worried him a little, seeing the boy with such a faraway look in his face. Never.

"You can't just go around hitting people like that, you jerk!" Allen went on, glaring harder as Kanda moved to get off the bed, feeling slightly stiff as he had not moved much for the last few days. He needed some training, exercise, anything to get his body functioning the way he liked.

"Che, says who?" And as if to prove his point, Kanda landed another blow on Allen's head, but softer this time, not that he noticed.

"BaKanda!" Allen shouted, throwing the pillow at the man, who dodged it with little effort. Shaking his head at Allen's childishness, he walked towards the brown oak door, fully intending to spend the day training, to get away from the boring lime green room he had been staying in without moving for the past few days. His hand paused on the knob though, when he realized that it was just past midnight, and no sane person would go out training at this time. Allen seemed to noticed his actions, and tilted his head to the side, questions on his face, anger all forgotten already.

"Kanda?"

Kanda ignored him, and instead chose to open the door, stepping out into the quiet and empty hallway. The house was just too damn big for the few people that lived here, in his opinion. Kanda hated big spaces when they were designed for display like it was. He felt like tearing down the place sometimes. Like now.

"Kanda?" Allen called again, gingerly setting his foot down on the floor, like a baby first trying to walk.

The Japanese man ignored Allen yet again, walking down the hallway which he had familiarized himself with over the time of his stay here. Akuma roamed the mansion, attending to the chores like dusting, washing and cleaning. Mugen lay within his room, completely dormant. He missed the feel of the blade hanging on his hip when he walked, but the Innocence was as good as dead weight when it wouldn't even activate on command anymore.

"Kan-oof!"

Crashing sounds could be heard from the room he had left Allen in and Kanda finally turned, grumbling expletives under his breath as he walked back to where he came from.

"Bean- What the fuck?"

Allen seemed to have grabbed the tablecloth as he fell, and all the things that had been placed on it had came down when it had, on top of Allen. Kanda moved to brush everything off the poor boy, but stopped when he managed to get the cloth off his face. Allen's features were twisted into a pained expression, and Kanda looked the boy over, lightly brushing his hands over the younger boy's body to check for any injuries, but he found none. Growling, he pushed Allen up slightly.

"Beansprout!" He shouted, and Allen didn't seem to be listening to the older man. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Kanda asked, his voice still louder than normal. Allen whimpered at it, and Kanda was slightly taken back.

"I can hear…" Allen choked out. "I can hear those noises…" His hands reached up to claw at his face, his nails digging into the skin and breaking it. Kanda's eyes widened when he saw the blood dripping from the tiny wounds his fingers made. With little hesitation, he grabbed Allen' hands and pinned them behind him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" Kanda asked harshly, when Allen started kicking and struggling to get his hands free.

Allen's gray eyes were wide and glassy, and Kanda swore he could see his own reflection perfectly in them. Gripping Allen's hand tighter, he tried to still the boy's kicking, but one stray foot landed in his gut.

"Fuck!" Kanda grunted, obviously pissed off more than he was moments before.

Deciding not to be gentle anymore than he had already tried to be, he flipped Allen onto his stomach and straddled him, effectively avoiding any furthers kicks that could make contact with him, and held Allen's hands behind him so he would not hurt himself. Footsteps could be heard nearing the door despite Allen's rather noisy trashing, and Kanda turned just in time to see Lavi throwing open the door to the room, the brown hardwood making a loud crashing sound as it pounded against the green wall behind it.

"Allen-" The redhead stopped mid sentence, staring at the scene before him.

His best friend was straddling Allen.

His cold hearted, antisocial bastard of a best friend was straddling the most innocent boy he had ever met; Allen Walker.

Taking a moment to breathe, he rubbed his eye and blinked several times to ensure that what he was looking at was indeed real. Kanda's glare was ten times more frightening than he remembered, and he chuckled nervously.

"Eh…well, sorry to interrupt." Lavi said, his right arm coming up to scratch the back of his head.

"Mind out of the gutter, rabbit brat." Kanda grumbled, raising his one hand to hit Allen's pressure point on his neck. The white haired teen went limp, his breaths coming out shallow. Getting up from behind Allen, Kanda turned to Lavi, who still stood there, waiting for an explanation.

Before he could open his mouth, Tyki appeared at the doorway, his expression slightly surprised at seeing Lavi in the room. Ignoring that little fact for the moment, he turned towards Allen, who was still on the carpeted floor, unconscious. Kanda gave a sigh before bending down to pick the smaller boy up, moving him from the floor to the bed.

"What happened?" Tyki questioned the Japanese youth after he dumped the boy unceremoniously on the bed. Kanda shrugged.

"Che. I heard him fell after I walked out." Kanda said, sinking into the soft mattress beside Allen. "When I came in, he was on the ground."

"His face?" Tyki continued, bending closer to Allen's face to see the dried blood.

"Clawing his own face."

"Hmm…" Tyki nodded and straightened up, his hand at his chin, tapping it thoughtfully.

"What's wrong with him?" Lavi finally spoke, snapping both Kanda and Tyki's attention to him. They seemed to have forgotten his presence in the room.

"I'm not sure either." Tyki said at last, after a few minutes of pondering. "We have never seen this happen within us before, and the pain only lasts during the transformation."

"So we have no way of knowing?" The redhead asked, walking slowly towards the slumbering teen.

Kanda watched as Lavi looked at Allen with gentleness in his eyes, and he felt something tightening in his chest. Trying to shake it off, he continued to observe Lavi, who was stroking Allen's hair now, acting with so much care that Kanda might have thought the younger boy was something so fragile he had to be handled gently.

"What are you doing here?" Kanda finally said something through his clenched teeth, not knowing where the feeling in his chest came from. "Just yesterday you wouldn't even leave your room."

Tyki gazed at Lavi, waiting for an answer too. The ex-exorcist shrugged, pulling his hand back and letting it fall beside him. "I just heard…screaming…so I thought I'd see…" He mumbled, his eye cast downwards.

"You knew it was Allen." Kanda stated. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Lavi nodded, lifting his gaze to meet Kanda's glare. "Yeah."

Kanda held his gaze for a while, before he turned away with a scowl. "Che."

* * *

The harsh winds blew outside of the damp, dark cave that they had taken cover in. The rain fell hard, and there was no other signs of life. The two people in the cave stayed near the fire one had build up to stay warm.

"I wonder how long we'll have to hide…" A brunette said quietly, pulling her cloak closer to her body. "Komui-san said not to return because of the accident…"

"Allen Walker has turned against the Order." Bookman said, writing something down into the small book that he always carried. "The Inspector would most likely try to find something on all of us who had connections with the boy."

Miranda nodded, pushing back her still slightly damp hair.

"I just hope the others are okay…"

* * *

**And so Bookman and Miranda enters the stage. What will happen to them? :D**

**Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**And I lied. I lied again. I updated. I****'m suppose to be studying damn it! T.T It's all Niamh's fault I swear, she made me extend the chapter too. Her guilt! LOL. **

**I know I haven't answered all my reviews, but I'm -trying- to study! Ops? I promise to reply this chapter's reviews! D: **

**Thanks to: Niamh, for being guilt, and being my beta. ;) And SisterWicked again, for helping me describe Tyki.**

**DISCLAIMER: -Man does not belong to me, or I wouldn't go on a break so many times and get chapters out faster! RAWR.**

**WARNINGS: Non. Shounen-ai? Exorcists turn Noah.**

* * *

**10. Sentiments**

When he opened his eyes, and all he saw a black sky. The many stars could hardly be seen through the cloak of darkness, yet the most obvious light source was a great white crescent moon directly overhead. It was a world unlike reality, and Allen vaguely wondered if he had died. Looking in front, he noticed there was a lake, reflecting the sky, only in contrast.

"The moon…" Allen thought, looking up to the sky, and then back to the lake. "It's black in the lake, but white in the sky?"

Bending down to have a closer look, he noticed another difference. While there were white, leafless, dried trees and graves behind him, there were ruins in the lake.

"This…dream?" Allen muttered. He remembered this dream. It was the one he had always had when he had lost his Innocence back before they had acquired the Ark. Linali would be sitting atop one of the broken down building, with him. She would be crying, covering her ears as though she did not want to hear nor see anything, not wanting to believe.

He reached out towards the lake, waiting for the shadow - the 14th Noah to catch his hand and for the water to freeze, to tell him he couldn't go to the girl he loved like a sister, that he couldn't save anyone. His hand hovered over the surface of the water, waiting, but after a few moments nothing happened, and he realized that the 14th wouldn't appear, because he had accepted 'him' into himself.

Pulling back his hand, he peered into the lake again, focusing on finding the image of Linali, who he knew would be there, crying. He found her image, but she was cradling someone else in his place, and he had to squint his eyes hard to make out the figure. Linali had her fist clenched into the material of the person's white coat, a coat Allen found to be very familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint who.

The gears in his brain turned slowly as he watched the Chinese girl continue to weep, and then it clicked.

* * *

"Niisan?"

Komui looked up from his work, wearing a tired and worn out expression as he regarded his sister with a faint smile. Linali forced a smile out for the sake of her brother, who couldn't notice strained expressions, and went back to the documents in front of him.

"What is it?" The Chinese man asked, his voice scratchy as though he had not used it for a while.

Linali winced at the quality of his voice, but she did not comment on it. "Reever just wants me to pass the message that everything else is packed, and this is the only room left."

Her elder sibling looked up again, and then he nodded without giving much thought. "Tell him I'll be packing, and we can leave for the new building tonight, to get the needed preparations done before everyone else can move in."

Linali nodded, and turned to walk out of the office, while Komui continued scribbling words on his report. Shaking her head at the sight, she figured it was best to leave her brother alone for a while. Leverrier had been working him to the bone ever since Lavi went missing, despite the fact that he had been overworking already because of Allen and the invasion of headquarters. But now she was seriously worried about her brother's health.

Seeing the bags under his eyes and his hair in a mess was so unlike the playful chief they all remembered seeing. Even when he was forced into a serious situation, he never had such a tired expression on his face, not that he would show it to them if he had. Closing the door softly behind her, she noticed that Link was waiting on the opposite side, his arms crossed against his uniformed chest, shoulders tight with tension and stress. Although his eyes were closed, she could see the creasing of his eyebrows and the wrinkles on his forehead from all the frowning he had been doing lately.

He didn't seem to have heard her approach, so she stayed where she was, leaning against the brown wooden door that lead to her brother's office as she looked around the empty hallways. Was it always this empty? She couldn't remember anymore, since everything seemed to be falling apart, rather then falling into place.

The pieces of the puzzle that made up her world were disappearing one by one.

Would they continue to disappear, leaving her alone in her world of darkness again, like when she was younger?

* * *

Awkward.

That was the only word Lavi could use to describe the atmosphere as he sat in the living room together with Kanda, who had his usual pissed off look that said he'd rather be anywhere but here, and Tyki, who was shuffling a pack of cards while looking comfortable in the cushion chair he sat at. The redheaded Noah looked between the other two, hanging his head down to stare at his hands instead when neither of them spoke.

"Che. What's with your stupid expression?" Kanda shot out, his gaze finally falling on Lavi. "You look like a kicked puppy."

Lavi didn't raise his head, but he mumbled something under his breath, which Kanda couldn't catch. Tyki pretended he did not notice the exchange, as he knew it was between them, ex-exorcists, to sort their issues out. He did look up however, when Kanda spoke again.

"If you've got something to say to Moyashi, say it to his face." Kanda said, his frown deepening. "You seemed to talk fine when we were escorting you from the Black Order."

Wincing at the meaning behind the words, Lavi nodded slowly. He knew what Kanda meant, and Kanda knew what he wanted to say. He had been too harsh with his words when Allen had appeared in his room that day, and he knew it wasn't his place to have said all of those things. "I…didn't know, how hard it was for him." Lavi said, looking up to see Kanda staring at him with his deep blue eyes. They didn't hold anger, at least not towards him, but some kind of concern. "I still don't, but I…can't judge him, that much I can tell."

"Che."

"At least I see you're still the same." The redhead said, his tone considerably lighter.

"Being a Noah doesn't mean killing Exorcists is all we think about." Kanda replied, crossing his arms against his chest. He spoke as though he had been a Noah since the start. "We just stand on different sides, not that it matters anyway."

"What do you mean?" Lavi asked, his eye widening. "Don't tell me…you know about the other side of the war?"

The Japanese youth snorted, his lips quirking up into a smirk. "Did you think that only Bookman knew about it?"

"The hidden side of the war?" Tyki spoke, placing the deck of cards he held down on the marble table in front of him. "I don't think Lavi knows much of it either."

Kanda nodded, turning his gaze towards Tyki now. "We don't know much either, and Allen is the only one who seems to know what's happening, but he's always sleeping."

"The strain on his body is not one we would like to have on us." Tyki said, closing his eyes and smiling sadly. "Just imagine if anymore Exorcists turn, he'll take the pain of the transformation again and again, just to save them from it."

"Che, like the idiotic martyr he is."

"Yu-chan, he saved us from it too."

"Don't call me that."

"Where's Mugen?"

"None of your business."

Lavi sighed, propping an arm on the chair before leaning his face against it. "I just thought that Mugen would be with you, even being unable to activate it." He said thoughtfully. "I mean, wasn't it your family heirloom or something?"

"Oh?" Tyki said with a sudden interest in his voice. "Wasn't it just an Innocence that found you?"

Kanda looked at the Noah of Pleasure, and then Lavi, before shaking his head in defeat. "No. It was a family treasure. No one knew what an Innocence was, and somehow no Akuma came after it for the years my family had it."

"How strange." Tyki muttered.

"How did General Tiedoll find you?" Lavi asked instead. Kanda had never talked about how he got into the Order, or how the General found him, much less about his family. This was his chance of finding out more about his best friend.

"Che. Akuma started coming after it once I activated it one time." Kanda answered. "And General Tiedoll didn't find me."

"You went to find him?"

Kanda snorted, being the idea of him finding that dotting General was funny to him. "No. General Cross found me."

"Oh, Cross- What?"

"General Cross has the habit of dumping Innocence bearers he finds on Tiedoll. That's how I ended up with him." Kanda elaborated. "I'm sure you've heard that's one thing General Cross likes to do."

Lavi nodded. "But I didn't think it was true, since Allen was with him."

"Che. Allen was a different case."

Lavi's grin faded a little when Kanda said that, and he leaned back against the soft cushion of the couch he sat on. "Because…he's the host…for the 14th Noah?" He asked softly, like it was a sensitive issue to Kanda. He saw Kanda visibly stiffened, but he never knew the reason why the Japanese man was so affected by a fact that they all knew already.

"Who the hell cares?" Kanda snapped, his gaze hardening. "We're all Noahs now anyway."

"Yeah but…Allen's like…" Lavi scratched the back of his head as he gave it a thought. "Like…Millennium Earl the second, ya know?" The redhead looked hesitant, but he continued his thought. "And he doesn't have the line of crosses that we have as Noahs. And although I'm kinda glad, our skin doesn't exactly get all dark and tan like him." He nodded his head in the direction of the Noah of Pleasure, who shrugged. "The only apparent change in him is that his scar is more blood red than I ever remember it being."

"Che. Shut the fuck up already."

"But Yu…"

"I said shut up!" Kanda yelled suddenly, jumping up from where he sat and wrapping his hand around Lavi's throat, surprising the other two in the room. Tyki's eyes were wide, and the cigar in his mouth was threatening to fall from his mouth hanging open in shock. Lavi's eye screwed shut at the pressure on his windpipe, Kanda's glimmered dark with fury. Applying more pressure on the redhead's throat, he gritted his teeth as he thought through the things that Lavi had just uttered, and he suddenly loosen his grip.

_Why the hell am I getting so worked up for? He's…just stating facts._

Letting go slowly, he watched as Lavi cough violently, gulping in mouthfuls of air when he was released. The ex-exorcist looked up at Kanda with a hint of tears in his eye as he continued coughing. "What…the hell…" Lavi rasped, holding on hand to his throat, massaging it. "Are you…okay?" His question surprised Kanda, considering the fact that Lavi was the one who was being strangled less than ten seconds ago.

Not bothering to answer the redhead, Kanda turned and stomped out of the room, leaving Tyki to tend to Lavi, who seemed shocked at his best friend's reaction. Kanda had never lost it like that before, not when Allen was involved.

* * *

The familiar feeling of pain gripped him again, making him gasp for breath as he struggled to control the tunes raging in his head. The 14th's power had developed far enough that he didn't have to touch the person to transfer the pain of the transformation to himself. Although it also meant that the burden he carried had intensified, and he couldn't help but wonder if all the things he was going through were going to be worth it in the end.

He only feared his whole plan would crumble with one mistake.

Crawling into a sitting position on the bed he lay, he sat there for a while, regaining his breath and strength. Briefly he wondered what the others were up to since Lavi got here. Kanda hadn't been too happy when they found out that Lavi was the next one, and with the reason that Allen probably couldn't handle the redhead alone, he had tagged along. It wasn't as though Allen was happy either, but he didn't choose who was next, as much as he wanted to. If he had a choice, he wouldn't want any of his close friends to suffer the same fate he was going through.

Shaking his head, he sighed in relieve when he realized that his head wasn't pounding as much as before, and he got up slowly. Sleeping for days, maybe even weeks had certainly made his body weak without exercise. Just as he was about to set his foot down on the cool marble floor, the door to his room opened, revealing someone Allen thought he wouldn't see for a while, after spending almost everyday in the room with him.

"Kanda?"

The Japanese youth stood there, his hand still on the doorknob, his expression a cross between confusion and anger as he turned his head toward the only occupant of the room. Allen's gray eyes were staring at him, and neither of them uttered a single word as the minutes ticked by, sluggishly. Finally, Kanda walked in, closing the door behind him.

"Kanda?" Allen asked again, tilting his head to the side. "What's wrong? Did something happen-"

The younger boy was cut off when Kanda came forward too fast for his tired mind to comprehend, and he was shoved roughly towards the hard, solid surface of the headboard by Kanda's hands on his shoulders. His head made a painful contact with the headboard, and he moaned as the pain added on to his growing headache, trying to process what was happening. When he opened his eyes, Kanda's face was less than an inch away from his. Allen could feel Kanda's heated breath on his face, and he felt the blood rushing to his cheeks from the close proximity.

"Why…" Kanda growled quietly, and Allen tried to look at his face. "Why do I care so much about you!"

* * *

"Miranda?" Bookman questioned when she stopped in her tracks, gazing up at the reddish orange sky, dyed from the sun setting in the horizon. Her brown eyes scanned the skies, seemly in a trance.

Bookman stood where he was, waiting for her to respond to his call. Seeing her lower her head, he spoke again.

"What's wrong?"

"It's…" Miranda hesitated, glancing around. "Nothing."

Brushing it off, Bookman continued to walk, trusting the German woman to follow. She did, only after glancing up again. She could have sworn she heard a voice calling her, the very familiar voice of a British boy she could never forget.

The gears were moving, and the other side of the war was slowly beginning to reveal itself. Bookman knew, but he chose to stay quiet about it. Right now, even though he would not admit it, he was more worried for his redhead apprentice that had gone missing from the Black Order. He only hoped that nothing fatal had happened to him.

* * *

"You alright?" Tyki asked the redhead Noah, his eyes surprisingly filled with concern that made Lavi widen his eyes.

"F-fine." Lavi said, pushing the older man away from him as he stood on shaky legs. In all his life, Kanda had never actually gotten close to carrying out any of his threats before. Apart from the occasional beatings he received, this was the first time Kanda had actually came close to killing him.

"Maybe you shouldn't go near Kanda for a while." Tyki suggested as he lead Lavi back to his room. "He doesn't seem to be able to control his temper these days."

"Yu-chan's just grumpy being inside for long." Lavi muttered, automatically defending his best friend. "He'd always get pissy when he didn't get missions back in the Black Order, too."

The Portuguese Noah nodded his head absent mindedly, he seemed to not believe what the redhead had said. "If you say so."

Lavi frowned, looking up at the taller man intently. Studying his face for the first time, he noticed with surprise that the man was quite attractive, with loose black hair falling carelessly into strange golden eyes that seemed to almost glow in the darkness. Adverting his eyes hastily, he struggled to think about anything apart from how attractive the man looked under the moonlight.

God had been playing with their fate, and now, could he be playing with their feelings?

* * *

_**Beta**__**'s Note: I demanded nothing! It was a suggestion! And… I want Yullen. And cute Lucky. And… the readers love me for making Dark less of a mean short-winded authoress, right? 8D**_

**So yes, this chapter has been extended, thanks to Niamh****'s guilt- I mean, demand…I mean…whatever! XD**

**Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, this chapter took me around two months or longer to cough up. Again, I'm sure I have not replied reviews, being that I'm either being lazy or busy. But rest assure that I read every single one, and I totally love all of them! **

**It may take a while again to get another chapter up, and this was done with much...encouragement...from Nia. Ehem. Lol! Enjoy!  
**

**Thanks to: Niamh, for being guilt, and being my beta. ;)  
**

**DISCLAIMER: DGM does not belong to me! And it's coming back next month! BANZAI! XD  
**

**WARNINGS: Non. Spoiler free. Shounen-ai? Exorcists turn Noah?  
**

* * *

**11. Confessions**

He was tired, and that was all he could comprehend apart from the fact that his body was aching. Kanda's breath on his face was a nice distraction, Allen decided, as he stayed as still as a board. The Japanese man did not say anything, he just remained in his position, towering over Allen. Allen made to move, but with one of Kanda's large hand on his shoulder, and another pressing against the headboard, he couldn't really move without disturbing Kanda.

"Kanda…?" Allen whispered hoarsely, his tired eyes looking up towards the older man's shadowed ones. "Is something…wrong?"

"Che."

Allen chuckled despite the situation, unconsciously leaning his head onto Kanda's broad shoulder, which was right in front of him.

"Did something happen with Lavi?" The British boy made a guess, and judging by the way Kanda stiffened slightly - not enough to make Allen think he hit the mark, but enough to know it was part of the reason why Kanda was acting weirdly. "And…what did you mean by the words you just said?"

All was silent for the moment, until Kanda heaved a heavy sigh and leaned his head on Allen's shoulder, pushing the boy back slightly so that Allen was supporting Kanda instead. Kanda had placed his weight fully on the mattress which they sat on, and Allen hesitantly wrapped his arms around the man. Kanda's arm had fallen from its place, and was now on the bed, right beside Allen.

"The fucking problem is I can't stop thinking about you." Kanda muttered into the soft material of Allen's shirt. "And shit, that sounded wrong."

Allen laughed slightly, his arms tightening around the older man's frame. "I don't get it, you can't stop thinking about me?" He shook his head, maybe he really was too tired, he couldn't process the meaning of Kanda's words. "Maybe it's cause you haven't been out for a while, and you've been cooped up too long with me-"

"Shut up. I know what I said and I know what I'm saying." Kanda retorted, sitting up to glare at Allen. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"

"Spell what out?" Allen asked, tilting his head to the side. The gears in his brain weren't working as well as he hoped they would, he still couldn't understand what Kanda was trying to say. Wasn't it normal to think about him if Kanda spend almost every single day together with the boy?

Instead of answering him, Kanda leaned forward, pressing his lips against Allen's cold, dry mouth.

* * *

"Linali!"

The Chinese turned her head towards the direction that she heard her name, and smiled when she saw the familiar Australian man coming towards her.

"Reever, what is it?" She asked when he stopped in front of her.

He gave her a smile and pointed towards where the new main office was located, towards the end of the hallway. "Supervisor has been asking for you." Reever said. "I think it might be about your Innocence, and he's worried about it."

"Oh, I was supposed to see him!" Linali exclaimed. She had totally forgotten about the matter of her Innocence. Linali was to report back to Komui everyday on the condition of her legs in case anything out of the ordinary happened. "Has everyone settled in then?"

Reever nodded. "Everything's fine, and most of the people are in the cafeteria now, as they spent most of the day moving everything from the old place."

"I see, that's good." She replied with a strained smile. The teenage girl was still very much attached to the old building that was once the Order, but some things could not be changed, no matter what she did. Reever seem to not notice the forced expression on her face, for he smiled back and patted her head like he always did.

"Link is in Komui's office, by the way." Reever added as Linali walked pass him. "Inspector Leverrier had you on supervision like…Allen, right?"

The all too familiar name was hard to choke out, and Linali noted that. Everyone in the Order was still having a hard time remembering that Allen Walker was no longer with them, and instead on the other side, which they fought against. Kanda Yu, and even Lavi had gone, and by now with no news from Bookman or Lavi, they strongly suspected that the two had gone over to the opposing side too. They were stagnant, like the wind, and they never returned to the place they had been to. They came and went whenever the felt like it, it was how the Bookman clan lived.

The redhead's face flashed in her mind as she thought about him, and she felt an ache in her chest. Frowning, she realized she missed Lavi most of all, because his chatter and bright grin never failed to cheer her up. You never know how much something or someone means to you until it's gone.

With that thought in her head, she went down the hall, praying that things would take a turn for the better, soon.

* * *

Lavi soon realized that the thought of Linali didn't really come as often as it did when he was back in the Order. He had thought that absence made the heart grow fonder, but it seemed as though it didn't. He vaguely wondered if what he felt for the girl had just been an infatuation, or a crush, or curiosity, just because she was the girl no one could have, not while Komui was around. Not only that, but the memory of her cheery voice had become a dull echo in his mind, despite his photographic memory.

Leaning forward to press his forehead against the cool glass, his eye drifted to his 'babysitter', who seemed to have dozed off on his usual place. Lately, Tyki had been spending more time in his room together with Lavi, even though they knew Lavi no longer tried to escape from the mansion. He even stayed there until he fell asleep, claiming Lavi needed company after what happened with Kanda earlier that day.

"Wonder how Yu-chan's holding up…" Lavi muttered, suddenly remembering his best friend. Raising one of his hands to rub his neck, he shivered slightly when he remembered Kanda's chocking hold, the anger in his deep blue eyes, and his frustrated expression after that episode. He couldn't understand why Kanda had gotten so mad, but he did know that he had only spoken facts about Allen.

"He is merely confused." A deep velvet voice answered his thoughts, and Lavi turned his head towards the only other occupant in the room. "You were wondering why Kanda-san was mad, weren't you?" Tyki continued, flashing him a smile.

The redhead nodded once, looking back out the window. "Yuu-chan's never lost it before, so I was just wondering why he did." Shrugging to himself, he gave a sigh. "He…seems to care for Allen a lot…"

"Does that sadden you?" Tyki asked.

Lavi chuckled. "Of course not, it's about time something happened between those two…" He trailed off, brows furrowing into a frown, his eyes holding something akin to longing. "What do they call it? Love? Protectiveness? Or is it just plain pity because we're on the same side, and we need someone beside us?" He said quietly, his eye never looking at the other Noah in the room.

Tyki sighed, raking a hand through his hair, frowning when his hands caught in the tangles and curls of his ebony dark hair. "You say the most heartbreaking things, Lavi."

The redhead bit his bottom lip, clenching and unclenching his fist. "Yeah." He said after a while, his eye still looking out the window. "Yeah, I guess I do." He chuckled without humor, and Tyki narrowed his eyes at the forced action. "That's how Bookman are raised after all." He turned, his green emerald eye finally settling on Tyki's golden ones. "We have no need of emotions, after all, it's just history in ink and paper, and emotions get in the way of recording things accurately."

"Even so, have you never thought about it more logically, that you are currently involved in the history you are recording? As the Exorcist, Lavi?"

Lavi smiled bitterly. "Of course, but 'Lavi' is merely an alias, one I will discard after the war…or rather, the history we record ends." He shook his head, looking weary. "It doesn't matter if 'Lavi' does anything rash, as long as 'Bookman Junior' does his part of the job, all my actions are overlooked."

Observing the younger man silently, Tyki shook his head. "You say 'Lavi' is an alias, but do you realize that you're now so deep into that alias, you can't say that 'Lavi' and 'Bookman Junior' are two different people?"

"…They are…two different personalities…" Lavi said, though he hesitated. "It's different…I'm not…I can't…grow attached to one alias…it makes discarding so much harder."

"How many have you discarded already?" The Noah of Pleasure asked quietly.

"Fourty eight." Lavi replied without hesitation, the information wasn't really classified anyway. "I never got so deep into any alias before, so it's just…frustrating." He went on, remembering all the times that 'Lavi' had been so involved with his emotions that Bookman had to remind him where he stood. "It's hard, realizing that in my whole life as Bookman junior, I never once had a…a family like this one." He smiled. "I…the first thing I ever discarded…was my real name and family."

"Your real name?"

"I don't remember it now, it was a long time ago, back when my memory wasn't as good as what it is now." The ex-exorcist shrugged, as though he wasn't bothered by it. "My family wasn't really a loving one, and that's one thing I don't regret discarding…but my name…I remember it was important, because it was the only thing to remember my…mother by."

He had a hard time saying the word 'mother', and it sounded foreign on his lips. Frowning, he realized he had never said that word since he started training as Bookman all those years ago. He only ever wrote it, and writing was so much easier than speaking it.

"I see…" Tyki replied, unsure of what more to say at this point.

"It's fine." Lavi waved him off, saving him the trouble. "I just needed to talk about it, ya don't have to say anything."

"It has been a hard life, hasn't it?" Tyki finally settled on saying.

* * *

"It is here." A figure donning a long, mud brown cloak said, pushing aside the branches and leaves that were obscuring their view of the mansion.

"I don't understand." Another taller figure said. "If you knew where to find it, how come you've never done so before?"

"It is by coincidence, that we know how to locate each other." Bookman replied, stepping forward into the rain, ignoring the fact that his cloak was quickly becoming soaked.

Miranda stumbled out after him, clutching her cloak tightly for fear it would blow away. the harsh wind blew her brown curled locks into her eyes, irritating the German woman for a moment. Brushing them away, she hurried to catch up with Bookman, who was already walking towards the mansion, his poise and step made him look as though he did not care if any Akuma appeared suddenly, or he was confident there were no enemies around.

"Did Komui-san say that there was a possibility that Lavi has become a Noah?" Miranda asked, matching Bookman's pace with ease once she caught up to him. "Isn't it…dangerous?"

Her question made the elderly man halt in his steps, considering their options. She paused too, awaiting his decision. Finally, he gave a long sigh and spoke. "If it is dangerous, it will still be safer than going back to the Black Order, where the secretary Leverrier will be no doubt waiting to have a little talk with exorcists that are close to Allen Walker." He glanced towards the German woman. "And that includes you, Miranda Lotto."

Miranda bit her lip, trying not to remember how piercing the man's glare was when he first set eyes on her. Although she was certain it was their first meeting, Leverrier had somehow held an amount of hatred when he looked at her. She later noticed it was not only her, but to all exorcists, especially Allen Walker. Though his words were not harsh, his smile had never really been a smile, it was more of a smirk, and it never reached his eyes, not once. Miranda nodded after a few minutes of silence, bringing up her hand to rub at her growing headache.

"Come. We are almost there." Bookman said suddenly, turning away from her and towards the mansion again.

Not wanting to delay their trip with her useless apologies and stuttering, Miranda started walking again.

* * *

The fog in his mind wouldn't clear, and he could hear the melody of a new awakening Noah in the distant. When he felt warm lips on his cold dried ones however, all thoughts of hearing tunes or the pain in his head fled, and his eyes widened. Allen couldn't see Kanda's expression for the Japanese youth held his head in place with his calloused hand. Too shocked to respond, Allen merely sat as he was, the gears in his brain furiously trying to work.

Kanda though, felt that this was the beginning of a rejection, as the lack of response told him. Sighing inwardly, he nipped Allen's bottom lip before pulling away, forcing a glare to his face and looking towards the British boy. Allen's eyes were still wide when Kanda pulled away, though there was disappointment in his gaze as well. Kanda raised an eyebrow, taking a moment to understand Allen's expression.

"Moyashi?" Kanda asked, leaning back a little so Allen had space. "Oi, moyashi!"

"It's Allen!" The younger boy said out of instinct. "A-and you…y-you k-k-k-kiss…"

"Kissed you." Kanda finished, resisting the urge to smirk at Allen's stuttering. It would have made him laugh, had the situation not been so tensed for him. "Now do you get it?" He added, albeit a little sarcastically.

"You kissed me!" Allen repeated, turning his eyes towards the older man.

Kanda rolled his eyes at Allen's comment. "Che. I think I know what I just did, moyashi."

"It's Allen!" Allen corrected again, turning to look away as he felt the blood rush to his cheeks. "Why did you do that?"

"…"

"Kanda!" Allen exclaimed, when the Japanese youth did not answer. He moved forward to grab Kanda's sleeves, timidly. "I-I need to know…this isn't just-"

"A dream?" Kanda asked, his voice barely a whisper. "Or pity because I'm always by your side?"

Allen nodded slowly, and he looked down, suddenly finding the sheets very interesting. Kanda watched as Allen bit his lip, and how cold sweat started forming on his forehead. He lifted one hand to brush back Allen's bangs, which had grown out. He wondered how Allen could stand it when it kept going into his eyes, but he refused to cut it. The scars of a Noah that were supposed to line his forehead was also absent, but Kanda noted that the cursed scar Allen's foster father gave him had become more visible, a more vibrant, if not bloody red.

"Che. It's not." Kanda replied. "If it was, I would have told you I hated you for turning me into a Noah."

He felt rather than saw Allen stiffened when he said that, and inwardly he cursed himself for forgetting that the younger boy was sensitive on that topic. "But I don't." He added, hoping it would ease Allen's guilt.

"Then you…really…" Allen couldn't find the words to say, frowning when the words wouldn't come to his mind.

Kanda smirked, slightly relieved that Allen actually looked at him when he started frowning. "Che. As long as you don't keep sleeping. You might turn into a pig rather than a bean sprout."

"Allen." The British boy said, glaring through sleepy eyes at the Japanese youth. Suppressing a yawn, Allen leaned back against the pillows, fully intending to go back to sleep when Kanda shook the boy by his shoulders, and Allen opened his eyes to see Kanda raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Allen asked, trying not to fall asleep.

Kanda rolled his eyes, shifting to sit beside him. "Where's your sappy reply?"

"Sappy?" And it was Allen's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Why must my reply be _sappy_?"

"Because that seems to suit your image."

Allen chuckled, mock glaring. "I do _not_ do **sappy**." He leaned against Kanda, snuggling into the warmth that the older man provided as he yawned. "But I do words?" He tried, grinning at his own excuse. "I love you, I did even before you followed me."

Kanda smirked. "Che. Don't make me sound like some pet that followed you here."

"You might be." Allen joked.

Silence settled over the pair after Tyki uttered those words, and it was only broken after a while. "Yeah, but who hasn't had it hard?" Lavi replied, smiling at the Noah of Pleasure.

Tyki nodded, agreeing silently with the redhead. The sound of someone running alerted the pair, before it stopped right in front of Lavi's room door. Before Tyki could get up, the door swung open to reveal Road, who was grinning widely.

"We have guests!"

* * *

_**Beta's Note: Allen doesn't do sappy? Ha. Haha. HA! Allen doesn't do SAPPY like Kanda doesn't do CUTE. Which he IS, Dark. I SWEAR. Boobface.**_

**Yes, I am aware of that fact. hehe.**** But it was a funny arguement! 8D Anyways, there was yullen! LOL. **

**Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**After a few months of hiatus, I'm back with a chapter! ((bows)) I just finished a monthly test, so I'm free for a bit and decided to just finish this chapter and send it for beta. Will try to get the next chapters up faster now since the plot is somewhat coming back to meh. lol.**

**Unbeta-ed.**

**DISCLAIMER: DGM does not belong to me. It's still on hiatus. lol.**

**WARNINGS: Non. Shonen-ai? Exorcists turn Noah? That's all. No big. **

* * *

**12. Meetings**

"Guests?" Lavi repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Road nodded happily. "Guests! Unless you don't remember what that word stands for?" The girl teased, smirking at the redhead.

Scowling at the joke, Lavi pushed himself up from where he sat. "Who?" He questioned when Road didn't elaborate.

"Exorcists of course!" Road replied, jumping up and down in excitement. "They were covered with cloaks, but the Akuma sensed their Innocence." Twirling around in a circle, Road grinned widely before shrugging. "I'm going to go see them, coming?" She asked, directing her question at Tyki.

"Very well." Tyki answered, sighing. "We might as well find out what their business is and how they found this place."

"I'll go too." Lavi said, following behind the Portuguese man. When Tyki gave him a look, Lavi grinned. "I'll rot here in my room if I don't get to do anything!" He joked, patting Tyki on the back as he passed the man. "Plus, we gotta control Road-chan before she does anything right?"

Lifting at eyebrow at the manner Lavi had addressed Road, Tyki decided to say nothing as he followed the two younger people in front of him, wondering if Lavi was at least becoming comfortable around Road. He did notice that Lavi tended to become slightly nervous when Road appeared. The memory of the battle in the Ark was possibly still fresh in his mind after all.

"Oh? Aren't you afraid they might be someone you know?" Road asked curiously, skipping down the steps easily. "What if they attack you?"

Lavi laughed lightly, a sound that Tyki found pleasant to his ears. "I might be a Noah, but I was still once an exorcist!" Stopping just for a brief second, Lavi shrugged. "Nyoibo might be useless, but I still have both of you, right?" He asked, grinning at Tyki over his shoulders. The man blinked once, before nodding slowly.

"As long as you don't do anything…rash." Tyki said.

Lavi laughed again, bringing up a hand to rack through his red hair as he grinned wider. "Me? Rash? You have to be joking!"

Tyki raised an eyebrow at this, and Road snickered.

"We believe you Lavi, we really do."

* * *

Not for the first time, Miranda felt the fear creeping onto her as she stood at the doorway of the mansion, with Bookman beside her. She couldn't really understand why the Akuma around the place had not attacked them nor even threatened them as they walked into the compound. Still, the fact did not change that there were a horde of Akuma surrounding them, and it did nothing to ease her fears as her small frame trembled. Bookman noticed this, but did not comment. The young woman would have to learn to push the fear away, at least, for now.

The door flung open just as Bookman raised his hand to knock. Why he was going to knock, Miranda couldn't see either. But her eyes widened when she saw who it was that had opened the door. The unmistakable grin and red hair made it clear, and she wondered if Bookman had the same expression on his face.

"Yo gramps, Miranda-chan!" Lavi greeted them like any other day he saw them.

"L-Lavi." Miranda managed to choke out, her hands which were clenched together in front of her tightened if possible, her knuckles turning white.

If Lavi noticed it, he didn't comment, but turned to nod at her. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

Giving the redhead a jerky nod, Bookman glared at his apprentice.

"Idiot!"

That was all the warning Lavi got before he received one of the kicks his mentor was so fond of giving him. If Tyki and Road weren't so amused by the scene, they would have probably thought Lavi was in danger from the exorcists that stood at their doorway.

"Yeah…Missed you too gramps." Lavi groaned from his place on the floor, rolling to the side and clutching his head. "Or not."

Bookman huffed, but did not say anything. Instead, he turned to the two Noahs who were observing them.

"Where is Allen Walker?"

* * *

Someone was shaking him, and he decided he really didn't want to be woken up right now. He was feeling warm, and safe. Moaning a little from the disturbance, he swatted at whoever it was that was disturbing him.

"Go 'way…" He muttered, turning to bury his face into the pillow. "Tired." He added as an afterthought.

"Che. Wake up sprout. Bookman is here."

At the mention of the name, Allen opened his eyes immediately, but he did not move. "What?"

Kanda frowned, turning Allen so that he was lying on his back instead of his side. "I said, Bookman is here. Are you becoming deaf from…the tunes?"

Allen glared at the Japanese youth, clearly irritated. "The tunes do not make me deaf." He retorted, pushing himself into a sitting position, he sighed. "Bookman, you said?"

The older man nodded. "Lavi is downstairs with him. Lulubell came in to inform you that the old man has asked for you."

"Me?" Allen sighed again, one of his hands coming up to rub his temple. The headache that had been momentarily forgotten had come back, and it was starting to hurt a lot. The tunes were still raging in his mind, but he forced himself to think.

"Moyashi?"

Kanda's voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and he gave the man a half hearted smile, which he obviously did not return. Instead, he frowned. Allen noticed a hint of concern in Kanda's dark blue eyes, and he smiled softly at that. He never actually noticed any emotions in the older man's eyes, he didn't have much eye contact with him after all.

"I'm fine." Allen replied, swinging his legs off the bed. "I'll go meet him."

Ignoring the slight tremble his legs had, he walked towards the drawers, pulling out a fresh long sleeved shirt from it. Kanda was already at the door, twisting the doorknob when Allen called out.

"Did anything happen…while I was asleep?" He asked, as he pulled on the shirt after discarding the one he wore.

Kanda shook his head, taking a step out. "Che. Tyki stayed with that idiot the whole time, and Lulubell has said nothing. So I assume nothing has happened."

Allen nodded, and Kanda left, leaving Allen alone to ponder on the thoughts and tunes that went about in his mind.

"I'll bring them to the other part of the house, where it's further away from the Akuma and yourselves." Allen said, frowning. "There should be no problem with this arrangement, right?"

Road frowned, but kept her mouth shut and nodded instead. As soon as Allen came down, he was surprised to see Miranda was with Bookman. He had not been informed of that fact. After that, he told Lulubell that the two exorcists would be staying here, and that's when arguments from Road and Tyki started.

Akuma, Noah and exorcists just didn't mix well, Lavi had decided when they argued. Maybe that's why the holy war was ongoing.

"Very well." Tyki said, whilst Lulubell didn't reply. "I trust you will take away their Innocence and store them with the others?" He asked.

Allen nodded. "It's more secure in my own room."

Though the Noahs thought it weird that Allen would not destroy the Innocence immediately as the Earl would, they did not question him. He was their new leader, and therefore they would obey him without questions. Kanda had stood beside Allen all the while, not bothering to comment on anything. Lavi shrugged, and beckoned for Miranda and Bookman to follow him.

"I shall see you for dinner then." Allen said, turning away. Kanda slipped his arm around his waist wordlessly, supporting him.

* * *

"You seem to have no problems ordering." Bookman stated once they were out of earshot from the Noah family. "They do not question your decisions?"

Allen smiled without humor. "Apparently not. They lost a leader, and another to take his place appears. What a blessing." He joked, smiling at Bookman, though it was not returned.

"Che. Mindless is what it would be called." Kanda retorted.

"I have to agree with Yuu-chan." Lavi said. "I never thought the Noah would happily follow your orders, Allen."

"The Fourteenth's powers are strong." Allen replied, keeping his eyes on the path they were walking. "They surpass even Tyki's, which is saying something. I don't recall them ever trying to hurt me in any ways, no matter how tempting it would be."

"So you're saying your not really that safe here either?" Miranda asked, suddenly fearful, not for herself, but for the younger boy in front of her.

Allen chuckled, mistaking the fear in her voice. "You'll be fine here. I gave orders for you and Bookman not to be harmed." Pausing, he frowned. "I can't guarantee anything, but I will try to make sure nothing happens."

"I think she wasn't talkin' bout herself, moyashi-chan." Lavi pointed out, grinning slightly when Allen turned to glare at him for the nickname.

"I will be fine, Miranda." Allen said gently. "You don't have to worry about me."

Miranda wasn't entirely convinced, but she knew the issue had to be dropped by the way Kanda was glaring at her, so she did. Smiling softly to herself, she wondered if Kanda knew how protective or rather, possesive he was being, holding Allen like that.

* * *

"Supervisor…" The Finder who stood in front the desk of the supervisor hesitated, worried that the bad news he held in his hands was going to be the last straw for their head officer, who looked like he was about to drop dead any minute. His hair was tousled, eye bags very obvious, and his usual steaming mug of coffee was no where to be seen.

"What is it?" Komui asked tiredly, shoving a few reports away. Reports of missing exorcists had been piling in, and the Headquarters was in a state of panic when even three out of four of the Generals went missing. He had sent out every available Finder to track down the whereabouts of said missing Generals, but so far he had not heard anything.

Until now.

The Finder sighed inwardly, praying to God that what he was about to say would not be the breaking point for the Chinese man in front of him. He held out a shaky hand to the table, and let whatever he was holding in them fall to the smooth surface of the brown oak wood.

"…This…"

"Yes." The man answered, not needing to hear the entire question. "I'm sorry Supervisor, that's all the search party could find. Nothing else was uncovered in the ruins we tracked them to."

"I…see…"

"The reports states that three were found, which belonged to the Generals, and another four that belonged to some exorcists."

Komui slumped down in his comfortable leather chair, his mind in a state of shock, the three gold buttons on his desk were mocking him, he was sure. What else could explain the disappearance or defeat of the best fighters in the Black Order?

General Cross Marian. General Cloud Nine. General Tiedoll.

The only one missing now was General Winter Sokaros. He wasn't certain whether he should be happy that at least one General was still hopefully alive, or panicking that the only General alive now was close to being a lunatic.

He decided he could wait to sort that out.

"Very well. Thank you for the report." Komui muttered, covering his face with his palm. "Anything else?"

"Actually…yes." The young Finder said, frowning. "We haven't been able to uncover anything about the missing Finders either. There were no ashes and no clothes found at the sites which they vanished. It's as if they weren't killed by Akuma, because we know they're supposed to turn to ashes if they get shot, isn't that right?"

"What did you find then?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just footprints I suppose, they just…vanished."

Komui frowned, staring at the report in front of him. That sounded very odd.

"I see…alright. Dismissed."

The Finder nodded politely, and turned to head out. Komui leaned back against the chair, sweeping the gold and silver buttons into his hand. They had lost quite a number today, and confirmed that the three Generals were indeed lost to them.

The balance of the war was tipping to one side now, and it looked as though fate was favoring the opposition.

"You really did a number on us, Allen-kun." Komui muttered, gazing sadly at the names that were engraved on the back of the buttons. "A real number…when will this all end?"

"Soon Komui-san, very soon." A voice whispered beside his ear, and Komui jerked forward, whirling around to see the familiar figure behind him.

"Allen-kun!" He breathed, clutching a hand on the material of his shirt above where his heart lay.

"Good evening Supervisor." Allen greeted cheerfully, sounding completely unlike how he looked. His white hair was slightly disheveled, his eyes dull, and his lips curled into a smile so unlike him.

"Shall we sit down and discuss things like sensible adults do, or will you make it hard by shouting for help?" Allen asked the Chinese man, who had turned rather pale at Allen's appearance.

To the God who Exorcists fight for, and to whom the Noahs direct their hate to, the war in which they're fighting for, what was it that started the whole cycle of hate?

* * *

**Please review! For my birthday? :D Which is tomorrow hehe! Thank you!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Well! I have finally finished this chapter, after almost 4 months! I deeply apologize for the wait, but the plotbunny ran away so I had to chase it down and beat it to submission. hehe. It's a bit short, but I hope you enjoy reading it!**

**There are a few matters that I just noticed. Names. I noticed I changed it frequently, and I'm annoyed at myself for not noticing it. So I'm gonna clear this up. I will be spelling names as 'Road' and 'Yuu'. So far only these two I keep changing. Bleh. **

**Now that aside, onto the story!**

**Disclaimer: DGM no belong to me. **

**Warnings: Noah!Exorcist. Yaoi. Shounen ai.**

* * *

**13. Fate**

"What do you want to talk about?" The Supervisor said calmly, leaning back against his comfortable chair. Maybe he was hoping for the object to swallow him whole, to avoid this conversation with the ex-exorcist in front of him, but it was of course impossible.

Allen's smile remained in place as he sat on the table, crossing his legs for a more comfortable position. Komui could see small beads of sweat forming on Allen's forehead, as though he was hot, but he was sure that wasn't the reason.

"I want to demolish this system." Allen spoke calmly and slowly, as though he was talking to a child.

"System?" Komui repeated. "You mean the Order?"

"No. I mean this whole war."

Now Komui was speechless, he couldn't understand the teen in front of him. "I don't understand, Allen-kun. We _are_ fighting to end this war, isn't that-"

Allen held up his hand, signaling for the scientist to stop talking, which he did. "You misunderstand me, Komui-san." He sighed, scratching the back of his head like he always did when he was trying to find the words to say. "You know the war will never end, and even if we defeat the Earl –which we did- something else will always come up, and thus exorcists will be needed. Take now for example, the Vatican is still insisting that even though the Earl is gone, Innocence must still be hunted and brought back to the Order. Why is that so?"

"So that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, like the remaining Noahs." Komui replied without hesitation, as though it was a rehearsed answer.

"That's what the Vatican wants you to think." Allen shot back, his eyes cold and calculating.

Komui was taken back by the harsh tone that came from Allen, and he frowned. "But if that isn't the reason, why would they want the Innocence? It's not to say we can find people who are compatible for each and every-" His eyes widened a fraction. "They wouldn't…would they?"

"You of all people should be aware of the extent they would go." Allen said softly. "How many people had already died on the field for this? This useless purpose? When will it stop?"

"And so you joined the Noahs?" Komui questioned.

A smile was his answer, and he decided to drop the issue, as he saw that Allen wasn't going to give him an answer anyway.

"So what do you plan to do?" Komui asked, after a few minutes of silence.

"Well, there are some facts you ought to know, Komui-san…"

* * *

Kanda strapped on the katana that Allen had gotten for him onto his belt, and shouldered Mugen, which he couldn't and wouldn't leave behind no matter what Lavi had said.

"Not like you can activate it anyway, Yuu-chan!" Lavi said cheerfully while handing Kanda a cloak. "Weather's gonna be cold, so take this along."

Kanda grunted, grabbing the cloth on the way out. "Where're you going, by the way?" Lavi asked, stepping outside together with the Japanese man.

"An errand." Was the reply.

"For Allen?"

"Aa."

"I see." Lavi said thoughtfully. "Ah well, I'll just kill some time with Tyki or something."

Kanda raised an eyebrow. "You spend a lot of time with him."

"Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?" Lavi joked, grinning widely. "Cause don't worry, Yuu-chan! You'll always be my best friend!" The redhead proceeded to wrap an arm around the other teen's shoulders. "And I still love you!" Lavi declared.

Kanda growled dangerously, slapping Lavi's hand off his shoulder. "Don't flatter yourself, stupid rabbit."

Lavi laughed, racking a hand through his red hair. "Yeah, sure. How long will you be gone?"

"As long as possible to be away from you."

"Have a safe trip!" Lavi called as Kanda exited the mansion through Road's door. "Bring me a souvenir!"

A pile of dirt was swung at Lavi's face for that.

* * *

"So, do we have an agreement?" Allen asked tiredly, sinking into the chair opposite of Komui. The Chinese man looked to be deep in thought, considering all the facts that Allen had laid down to him. In a way, it did make a lot of sense, and even filled in all the holes that he could not. But more answers also lead to more questions.

"But Allen-kun, you do know to make this work, you must get the exact timing right." Komui replied. "What if you slip up? One mistake, and everything we've done could just end up being a waste."

Allen nodded. "I know. That's why I've already planned it out." He took out Timcanpy from his pocket, placing it on the table. "Tim will be our means of communication for now, I can't risk coming into the Black Order, should someone walk in on our meetings. You can claim that Tim disappeared after Cross died."

Komui sighed. "Very well, I don't control where Timcanpy goes anyway, and Leverrier has not asked about it."

"Leverrier…" Allen muttered. "Komui-san, you need to keep an eye on him."

"What?"

"There's something about him…" Allen said, tapping a finger against his chin. "I can't explain it, but there's this feeling I get when I'm around him that makes me agitated."

"Is that why you don't get along?" Komui asked.

Allen raised an eyebrow. "Does anyone get along with him?"

"Good point."

Standing up gracefully, Allen nodded at Komui. "I will take my leave now. I have stayed here too long, the others will be expecting me soon."

"Allen-kun." Komui spoke before Allen could step through the Ark.

"Yes?" The white haired teen replied, not turning around to see the expression on the Supervisor's face.

"Did you…really kill all those people?" He asked softly, hoping that Allen would deny it.

Allen stayed silent, his eyes never straying back. "Have a good evening, Supervisor."

And then Komui lost all hope of ever seeing the people's whose names were labeled on the files as missing, as Allen stepped through the Ark, and disappeared.

* * *

Bookman nodded towards the cloaked figure beside him when he appeared, gesturing towards a cave that he could see, not too far from their location. "That's where he wants us to go?" Kanda asked, pushing back the hood of his cloak. "Looks like a normal cave."

"Just like any other missions to locate Innocence." Bookman snorted, and began to walk.

Kanda sighed, walking in smaller strides to match that of the older man. "Why didn't he send that idiot?"

"I assume it's because he is still unstable and unsure of his condition." Bookman replied, huffing. "That boy has more emotions than any other Bookman should have."

"Are you going to erase him then? Like you did his previous alias." Kanda questioned, stopping to look at Bookman's back. "Lavi wouldn't remember, but Deak was an exorcist too."

"The Order was sworn to secrecy on that matter." Bookman muttered, narrowing his eyes. "It doesn't have anything to do with the current issue."

"You erased 'Deak' for having too much emotions too." Kanda retorted, anger seeping into his voice. "He may have looked slightly different, but his red hair gave him away."

Bookman stayed silent, heaving a sigh, he continued to walk on, leaving Kanda behind. Kanda growled, but knew he had to continue following the older man in order to carry out the errand Allen had assigned them.

"At that time…" Bookman started quietly. "Deak was still young. He did not fully comprehend what it meant by switching alias. He did not know it meant throwing away personal feelings and memories he chose to cherish as 'Deak'."

"Didn't he have forty seven other alias' before 'Deak'?" Kanda asked. He had remembered Lavi explaining about his alias' in the library one day, when he had gone there for the lack of things to do. He had listened in surprised, wondering how Lavi had attained and discarded forty eight alias' in such a short eighteen years. But what he couldn't understand was why Lavi had not remembered that 'Deak' had been an exorcist, because he clearly stated that 'Lavi' was the first alias he had as an exorcist.

"He did." Bookman replied. "But none that he got himself attached to. He retained one alias each time for only a short period each time, the longest being a year. Most of the time it was only for a few months, that's why he went through so many in eighteen years." He turned to look at Kanda. "'Lavi', would be his longest now."

"Almost three years." Kanda stated.

"Yes. 'Deak' only remained for slightly over a year." Bookman sighed again. "I will need to look for another apprentice it seems."

Kanda raised an eyebrow.

"Lavi has too much emotions." Bookman elaborated, not knowing why he was explaining himself to this youth. He never explained his actions before. "Not only 'Lavi', but his person as a whole. No matter how many times I erase him, he will eventually grow attach to another one of his alias. At this rate, he will never be able to succeed as Bookman. The Bookman Clan will never allow it."

"So you start from scratch again?" Kanda frowned. "It's not easy finding someone with the qualifications."

"Indeed." Bookman agreed. "But we all have to face reality, and from the moment I picked him up from that mess that day, I knew the day would come when he would leave his duties as Bookman."

"Then why take him in at all?" Kanda grunted.

Bookman smirked. "I am still unsure myself. Perhaps we shall just leave it as it was a fated meeting."

* * *

"Allen-kun!" Road squealed as Allen stepped through the Ark. "Welcome back!"

Allen smiled briefly. "I'm back." He glanced around the room, noticing it was empty. "Where are the others?"

"Kanda and Bookman left already." Road informed him, ticking off her fingers as she named the others. "That Miranda girl is in her bedroom, Lavi and Tyki are in the library, Lulubell and Mimi went out to do whatever they do, and I'm right here with you!" She finished, grinning.

"I see." Allen said. He remembered talking to Bookman the previous night about his errand, and he hoped that things were going smoothly on their end. "Well, I'm tired, so I'm going to take a nap."

"Again?" Road pouted. "I thought we could play."

He ruffled her hair. "Not now, Road. We have important business to do."

"Like make more Akuma?" Road sighed.

"Has Lulubell gone to do that?" Allen asked.

"I suppose…that's what she's always doing, isn't it?"

"I guess."

"Ah well, I'll just kill some time. Sleep well!" Road said cheerfully, bouncing off to find some poor Akuma to be her victim.

As soon as the girl was out of his sight, Allen let out a frustrated growl which was unlike him. "Damnit. The pieces are falling into place, and everything will soon be done, so why does it feel like something's going to go wrong?" He muttered, sinking into a chair. "It doesn't have to be this complicated…"

"Allen?"

The teen turned to look behind him, noticing not for the first time that Lavi was standing closer to Tyki than he would have. He smiled softly at that, wondering if the redhead was capable of feeling after all the denying he went through.

"Yes, Lavi?"

Lavi grinned. "Nothing. Just thought you looked dead tired, that's all. Need an escort to your room?"

Allen shrugged. He was thankful Lavi still retained his cheerful and optimistic attitude, after those few days of withdrawal in the early stage. He didn't know what would he have done if Lavi had continued hating him.

He wouldn't have been able to walk through that.

"Come on then." Lavi said, pulling Allen to his feet. "Tyki can get some food for you while I walk you to the room."

Tyki nodded. "Lulubell has informed me that you have not been eating well since the exorcists arrived."

"It was only a few days, I don't need a babysitter." Allen grumbled as he let Lavi pull him along the halls to his room.

"Sure Allen, sure." Lavi laughed.

Allen smiled at that, but in his mind, the strange feeling lingered on. Would his plan go smoothly? Or would a disaster happen when everything seem to be running well?

* * *

**Please review! (:**


	14. Chapter 14

**Once again, another 4 months? Maybe I should keep it as a update date or something. D8 I'm trying not to make it a habit, but it seems as though the muses only comes out after 4 months. bah. I'll be trying to update this story monthly, it seems like it will go on longer than I expected. Well, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as I enjoyed dragging the muses out of the closet! XD **

**Unbeta-d. Feel free to point out grammar mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: DGM no belong to me.**

**Warnings: Noah!Exorcist. Yaoi. Shounen ai.**

* * *

**14. Unexpected**

The darkness of the new tower seemed to get to her more nowadays, the Chinese girl thought to herself as she walked through the many hallways to reach her brother's office. Ever since Lavi vanished without a trace, they hadn't been able to contact Bookman. Miranda, who was also on a mission together with Bookman, had not been heard from either. Linali feared the worst for the two exorcists, knowing that Allen, despite being Allen, was hunting down the remaining exorcists. She just wished she knew what was running in his head. Were the others really dead?

Just as she reached the office, she heard her brother's voice.

"Did you…really kill all those people?"

Her head snapped up, and she pulled back her hand from pushing the door open. Instead, she peeked through the crack where the door was not shut properly, and almost gasp when she saw a familiar white haired teen and her brother. Allen was not facing Komui, but she saw the tired expression on the teen's face as he sighed.

"Have a good evening, Supervisor."

And then he was gone.

She saw her brother slumped down onto the chair, his eyes full of anguish and she resisted bursting into the office to comfort him. Linali was certain no one knew about Allen's presence in the Headquarters, and she wasn't about to alert her brother to the fact that she knew.

"Dear God, fate was never kind to him."

Clenching her fist, she agreed to the statement, and steeled herself to enter the room.

"Good morning, Niisan. I brought your coffee…"

* * *

"And here are the rest of the reports." The man said, dropping a stack of documents onto the desk in front of him. "Honestly Allen, I don't see why you needed these reports though. We could have easily just gone through verbal reports."

Allen sighed heavily, reaching out and snatching a few pieces of the papers to browse through. "I know, but sometimes things could just slip your mind, not that I'm saying you're not capable."

"Why can't we station a golem at that side, so there's a contact method?" The man, who was at least a head taller than Allen questioned, setting himself down on the opposite chair after dropping the documents. "I mean, wouldn't that be easier on everyone, especially you?"

Allen smiled slightly. "Golems basically belong to the Order, what if they can trace it? Then it'll blow the cover for the other side."

"That's true, I never thought about it that way."

"It looks like the search for Innocence is going well." Allen mused, looking through the reports. Almost each one stating that an Innocence had been found and was well kept, so that the Order would not find it. "I think without pressure from the higher ups, they're doing a much better job."

"Or maybe it's just-"

"Oi Allen, I was wondering if…" Lavi burst into the room, his grin sliding off his face when he took in the appearance of the person in front of Allen.

"Oh, hello, Lavi." Krory smiled, waving a hand.

The redhead was so shocked that all he could do was gap.

* * *

"Honestly? I wasn't expecting that brat to send you two to me." Cross Marian stated, taking a sip from the glass of wine he held. "I wasn't expecting him to send anyone at all."

"I wasn't expecting to see you." Bookman shot back, making himself comfortable on the chair. "He just told us to come here, and apparently you made yourself quite at home in this cave."

Cross smirked. "Yeah, what with all the paper work that brat has got me doing, at least he provided a comfortable place for me to do it."

Kanda groaned mentally. They had been here for a full day and all the two had been talking about was how they did not expect to meet each other out here. When Allen had specifically stated he needed Kanda and Bookman to carry out this job, he did not imagine facing Cross Marian. All in all, he actually despised the General for letting Allen go through all the torture under Leverrier. After all, Cross was supposed to be Allen's guardian, didn't that mean he at least had to look out for his well being?

"What's that she-man suppose to be doing here anyway?" Cross asked, pointing towards Kanda.

Kanda twitched, but remained silent. He was good at that.

Bookman shrugged. "We're supposed to assist you."

"Ah." Cross said. Reaching into the drawers beside him, he pulled out a stack of papers. "Since the other one is currently headed towards Allen, or maybe already there, I guess he wanted you to pick this up."

"What are these?" Bookman asked, accepting them. "Reports?"

"His plans." Cross waved his hand. "Confidential stuff that gets passed around."

"If it's confidential, shouldn't it be kept…confidential?" Kanda asked, taking the reports from Bookman. "Innocence?"

"He's collecting Innocence, God knows for what." Cross replied, taking a drag from the long pipe he held. "They just file in reports on places they investigate and whether it's successful or not. Then someone delivers them to me and I hand them to the person he sends."

"Why not just use golems or something?" Kanda muttered.

"HQ can tap into them, as they invented those things anyway. With the exception of Timcanpy, of course." Cross replied, placing another document into a box beside him. "Besides, it's healthier for them to walk."

"Suffer, you mean." Kanda muttered, putting the stack of papers into his backpack. "Is that all that we're here for?"

"Allen mentioned something about sending Bookman on to the next location with a letter." The General grumbled, pulling out another piece of paper. "And says to send the Japanese back to the house."

"I see this is where we part ways then." Bookman said, turning to Kanda. "You remember the way back?"

"Che." Kanda snorted, grabbing his coat, he started walking out of the well decorated cave. "I'm not direction blind like that bean."

"True, true."

Thinking he had been dismissed, he continued on, until Cross threw something that hit him square on the head. Irritated, he turned around and glared at the redhead General, wishing he could just slice him up with Mugen, activated or not. Cross smirked, it was just too easy to rile up the pretty boy.

"Here's something you almost forgot." He tossed a small package at Kanda, and the Japanese youth frowned when the sounds of metal hit his ears as the package landed in his hands.

"What's this?"

"A little souvenir Allen requested." Cross replied with a wave of his hand. "Now, get. The sun will set soon."

Growling, Kanda stuffed it into his pocket before turning away, glad to finally be able to walk away from the overbearing General. He only hoped he would get back to the mansion fast enough.

* * *

"K-Kuro-chan!" Lavi stuttered, his eye still as wide as a plate. "B-but…you…Allen…!" The redhead glanced at where Allen was seated, and the younger boy had a very amused expression on his face, despite the fatigue that was lined with it.

"Krory, are you staying the night?" Allen asked, pulling the ex-exorcists' attention back to him. "It would make little difference if you were to head back to camp at this time anyway."

The Romanian nodded his agreement. "The camp is safe anyway, so I'll be staying."

"You know where your room is." Allen continued. "And tell Miranda that she'll be following you tomorrow. You can brief her the details after."

Krory nodded again. "I understand, Allen-kun."

Deciding that it would be best to talk to Lavi when he wasn't staring like he saw a ghost, Krory patted the redhead on the shoulder on his way out. "I'll see you at dinner, Lavi."

Lavi could only stare as the older man walked out of the room, before turning back his gaze to Allen, who still had the amused look on his face. "Yes, Lavi?"

Apparently, that managed to shake him out of his stupor.

"But you had his button, and you threw it on the ground when you attacked the Order!" Lavi burst out, taking big steps to reach the front of Allen's desk. "I saw it!"

"Well, yes, of course you did." Allen agreed. "I did see you there together with the rest of the Order."

"Then…what?" Lavi was at a loss for words.

"I merely returned the button to the Order, how they chose to interpret it however, is none of my business." Allen replied, smiling up at Lavi. "Now, did I ever said that I killed him?"

Lavi opened his mouth to argue that anyone would have thought that, but then after a moment's hesitation, he closed his mouth again. "I…guess not."

"You see, the Order likes to jump to conclusions, and pinning blame on others is their favourite game." Allen said, pushing away a few piece of papers that was on his desk. "By returning the silver button I proved it, I only wonder how many of you thought of it though."

"Tyki had a habit of taking the buttons of exorcists he killed." Lavi said hesitantly. "And by doing that, you probably reminded them of that."

"Ah, yes." Allen shrugged. "That's what we call stereotyping."

Lavi frowned. "But you did it on purpose, to prove your point?"

Allen waved his hand. "Forget it, Lavi. The main point is I did not kill Krory."

"What about the others?" Lavi challenged.

Silence greeted his question, and all Allen did was smile softly at the redhead. Turning away from his friend, Allen pulled out a few more reports to read through. "I see you've been getting closer to Tyki." Allen commented casually, looking back at Lavi through his bangs. "Is everything going well then?"

Lavi raised his eyebrow. "I don't get your meaning."

Allen chuckled tiredly. "Deny it all you want, but I can see it." He laughed slightly louder upon seeing the blush that graced the redhead's cheeks. "Send him to see me, will you?"

"You can send for him yourself." Lavi muttered.

"Oh, but it's much more…convenient if you went instead, since you're going to look for him anyways." Allen replied with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Deciding that he couldn't win the game that Allen was playing, Lavi groaned and gave in, heading towards the door. "I swear you're out to get me, moyashi-chan!" Lavi whined as he pushed the door. "And next thing I know, Yuu will be-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a silver blade came and embedded itself in the wood right beside him, and Lavi gulped as he felt the piercing glare directed at him.

"I told you…Don't. Call. Me. That." Kanda's murderous voice made Lavi swallow again, and he hastily bade both goodbye before fleeing towards his room, no doubt in search of a certain Portuguese.

"My, I think you really scared him this time, Yuu." Allen joked, while Kanda replaced the blade into its sheath.

"Che. That idiot will never learn." Kanda remarked, settling himself down in the chair that Krory previously occupied. "He'll be back to calling me that in the morning." He grumbled, setting his pack on the table. "The documents are in there."

Allen smiled gratefully. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

"Hn." He pulled out the small package from his pocket and tossed it at the British boy, who caught it easily. "Marian also said to give you that."

"Ah."

Raising an eyebrow, he nodded at the package that was now in Allen's hands. "What is it?"

"Nothing much." Allen said, emptying out the contents into his palm. "Just a little…souvenir for the Order."

Noting that Allen did not bother to elaborate, Kanda dropped the subject. After all, Allen would talk when he wanted to , and Kanda was not the type to pry, even if he was curious.

"Well, you had a long day." Allen said, once he put everything away. "Aren't you heading back to the room yet?"

Kanda snorted. "If that's a subtle way of telling me to get lost, you're doing a bad job at it."

Allen laughed sheepishly. "It's not! I'm just worried that you might be tired after the trip."

"Isn't it more tiring for you to maintain the Ark door for us? I didn't exactly have to travel by foot all the way." Kanda shot back, glaring at the boy before him. Allen was practically dead on his feet, yet he continued to push his body to work, and Kanda was pretty sure the younger boy was ready to collapse anytime soon.

"I just need to see Tyki, and then I'm done for the day."

"Screw that, you're going to rest. Now."

Allen glared at his lover, if he could even call Kanda that. They didn't exactly have a discussion after that kiss, though they did confirm their feelings for each other. Despite that, he felt that their relationship had not changed much at all. They still bickered and fought like cats and dogs, and Kanda rarely showed him any affection since that day, so what was Allen supposed to think?

"And why should I listen to you?" Allen retorted. "You're not my nanny."

Kanda's glare hardened, and he stood up abruptly. "No I am **not** your fucking nanny, but for the love of all that's **not** holy, I **do **care about your health and I'd hate to carry your sorry ass back to the rooms _when _you collapse!" He hissed, anger clearly lacing his words.

Allen blinked, processing the words slowly as usual when Kanda spoke so much at one go. He still had a hard time getting used to hearing so much from Kanda when it concerned him. "Er…right. But really, Yuu, I just need to see Tyki, plus I told Lavi to-"

Kanda rolled his eyes, and grabbed Allen's hand, effectively pulling him out of the chair. "H-Hey, Yuu! What are you doing!"

"Tell Lulubell to send Tyki tomorrow or something, because you're not available." Kanda said, as he continued to pull the younger boy towards their room. "You hear that?" The Japanese youth turned, seeing bright yellow eyes that stared up at him. It gave a soft 'mew' and padded away, its tail swishing in its wake.

"There, done." Kanda told Allen while he gave the older man a glare, complaining under his breath about 'idiots who suddenly cares too much'. All Kanda did was give him a smirk.

They say that God always gave something that was like a curse, but really is a blessing in disguise. Was it true? Or is God just playing with them once again?

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**Please review! :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**4 months. A record. I'm having my finals soon, so naturally, that's when everything kicks in, including writing fics or drawings. I just spammed DA last week with drawings. Gah. I know most of you probably forgot where this stopped and everything. I almost did too. lol.**

**This chapter is like an interlude I guess, since its all about what's going on inside the mansion. The calm before the storm? Enjoy!**

**Unbeta-d. Feel free to point out grammar mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: DGM no belong to me.**

**Warnings: Noah!Exorcist. Yaoi. Shounen ai.**

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**15. Doubt**

Tyki was walking down the long halls towards Allen's office, where he was working on the most recent reports on whatever it was he had going on. The Noahs never questioned his motive, nor did he bother to explain anything. It would have been weird, following a leader who never told them anything or to do anything, but Tyki found out that he was fine with it, and Road was fine with it too, as long as she still got to go out and play. Lulubell was another without complain, because it just meant that Allen was another master to be served, and she _had_ been mourning too long for the lost of the Earl.

He did find it weird that Allen had sent Lavi for him though, since normally it would be one of the Akuma that managed the household that came. The redhead's face held a cute blush when he appeared in his room, mumbling quietly that Allen had called for him, and that he was tired and wanted to retire early. Before Tyki could ask him what was wrong, Lavi had already kicked his shoes off and thrown himself under the covers. Dismissing the weird behaviour, Tyki thought it would be better if he came back later to inquire after his meeting with Allen.

He was just about to reach the wooden oak door that was his destination, when Lulubell appeared in front of him. Raising an eyebrow, Lulubell smiled eerily as she calmly explained that Kanda had took Allen back to the rooms to rest, as he was dead on his feet and could collapse any moment.

"Kanda said to come back tomorrow, or when Allen has called for you." She finished.

Tyki nodded. "Very well. That would also mean that they're not coming down for dinner, I suppose?"

The blond woman nodded. "Dinner will be served shortly, will you be calling Lavi down?"

"I guess so. I'm going there anyway."

Lulubell pursed her lips. "You've been spending a lot of time with the new Noah."

Tyki snorted. "You never complained before, what's the problem now?"

"We do not know what powers they hold, in fact, we can't even sense it, how do we know they're really one of us?" Lulubell replied. "Allen is the Musician, so we can gurantee that he is indeed with us, but I have never seen any of the others using any powers that resemble anything like Noahs."

"What's this now, you're doubting Allen's ability?" Tyki asked, surprised. "And here I thought you worshiped the ground he walked on like you did for the previous Earl."

The female Noah narrowed her eyes. "I do not doubt _Allen_, it is his _friends_ that I doubt."

"If you doubt his friends, you **are** doubting him, because _he_ brought _them _in." Tyki countered, furrowing his brows. "Why are you so adamant in taking out your accusations on them?"

Realizing that this was getting nowhere, Lulubell huffed as she turned around. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Tyki."

Watching her retreating back, Tyki shrugged to himself. "So we're still falling apart even with a new leader?" Cuckling humorlessly to himself, he turned to walk in the direction he came from.

* * *

Lavi groaned for what seemed like the hundredth time in that thirty minutes he had been in bed. Allen's words kept haunting him, and he couldn't get any rest as he tossed and turn under the covers. He had understood what Allen was implying, but he hadn't realized to what extend Allen had uncovered!

"Moyashi-chan, I hate you." Lavi muttered, trying to bury his face into the pillow.

A hand settling on his neck immediately snapped him to attention, and he whipped his head around to find himself staring straight at Road's face.

"Road?" The redhead mumbled, letting out a shaky breath. "What is it?" He asked, leaning further away from the girl, trying to put as much distance as their position would allow. He still wasn't used to her being close since the incident in where she almost killed him.

Road grinned, the type of grin that Lavi slowly learnt that it wasn't a good thing if it was directed at you. He watched nervously as the girl stood up from the bed where she had leaned over, and she chuckled.

"I just heard something interesting from Lulu, that's all." The oldest Noah replied. "So I thought I'd come by to see you, to confirm some things."

"Confirm?" Lavi repeated, raising and eyebrow. "What do you need?"

"Nothing much." Road replied, her eyes darkening. Lavi noticed the slight shift in atmosphere and became very uncomfortable.

"Road…"

"You just have to keep still." Road said, cutting him off. Bringing her right hand in front, she conjured up one of her sharp pointed candles. Lavi's eye widened at the sight of it, and he looked from the object in her hand to her face, and found out that she wasn't grinning anymore.

"You see…" Road began. "Noahs have powers which normal humans don't have, that's why we're superior to the human race." Her hands curled around the deadly weapon, and Lavi could only watch as she brought it closer to his chest. "Lulu mentioned that you and Kanda have not demonstrated any powers so far, so I really want to test your healing abilities at least." The Noah licked her lips, a sign that she was clearly enjoying this interrogation, while Lavi tried his best not to panic when she proceeded to lift the candle above her head, getting ready to plunge it into his chest. However, before she could, a hand grabbed her wrist, preventing her from inflicting any damage to the redhead.

"What are you doing?"

Tyki's voice was low and dangerous, the type of tone he had never, ever directed at his own sibling, no matter what the circumstances was. Road glanced up at him, seeing the fire in his golden eyes that were normally reserved for any exorcists that were unlucky enough to have landed a lucky blow on him, which wasn't many.

"Just…playing around." Road said quietly, her eyes daring him to challenge her, the oldest among them, but Tyki wasn't having any of that. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he yanked the candle from her hand.

"You never do this to any of us, why start now?" Tyki said, as Road frowned and got up from her position above Lavi.

"They have not shown any potential at all! Doesn't that bother you?" The girl hissed. "Just because Allen resembles the Earl, doesn't mean he can take the Earl's place!"

Tyki sighed, wondering why he felt like he was the glue that held them all in place in this old mansion. He was also always the peacemaker, now that he thought about it. Reaching out, he gently pulled Road away from the bed, and he could see Lavi breathe a sigh of relief, though he was silent through the whole exchange. Turning away from the redhead, he set Road on the ground and ushered her outside, pushing her back to urge her forward.

"I really don't see why everyone is suddenly so opposed to Allen." Tyki said, shutting the door behind him. "You and Lu didn't seem to have a problem when he first came to us."

"We were vulnerable then, having just lost the Earl." Road crossed her arms across her chest, turning to look the other direction. "We hadn't picked ourselves up, and someone offers a hand, naturally, we take advantage of it."

"So now that you've _picked_ yourselves up, you feel Allen is not a good choice?"

Road chuckled darkly. "I'm more concerned that his little exorcists friends will sway him back to the Black Order." Shaking her head, she uncrossed her arms and placed it on her hips instead. "We all know Allen is a half, he can revert back to an exorcist if he chooses to, what guarantees that he won't? Especially now that his lover is beside him, and I'm pretty sure he's not happy being a Noah, if he even is one."

Tyki frowned, muling over her choice of words. It was true, Allen was a half, and he could revert if he wanted, but as long as the redhead was beside him, he really didn't care much.

Wait, where did that thought come from?

"Just for now, I'll take my leave." Road said when Tyki didn't reply. "Better not get too attached to that rabbit." She said quietly, walking down the direction of the hall for dinner. Tyki only looked up when he heard her whisper.

"_It might be your downfall."

* * *

_

Allen moaned as he felt Kanda's breath on his lips, teasing him lightly as unconsciously he pulled Kanda closer. Kanda almost chuckled at the way Allen was clinging onto him, like a kitten in need of affection. And to think, he was doing this while he was asleep.

True to his prediction, Allen had collapsed as soon as he set the British boy on the bed. He didn't even bother kicking off his shoes before he fell, fully clothed on the bed. Kanda has grumbled and cursed as he proceeded to remove Allen's shoes and coat, wondering why the hell the younger boy would wear a coat when he was in the damn house.

Sighing lightly, he turned the page of the book he was reading while running his free hand through Allen's white locks, and Allen pressed against the hand, sighing contently. Kanda wondered if this was what life would be like if they weren't involved in the war. But looking down at the boy with his head in his lap, he knew that if he wasn't who he was, he wouldn't have met Allen Walker, the walking disaster that he fell for.

Kanda wasn't feeling sappy. He was just thinking about the facts in life. With sappy words.

Groaning, the Japanese realized that just maybe, maybe he had been in the house and in this room for too long. Staring at the lime green walls almost twenty four hours a day would definitely kill his brain cells, not that he actually cared since he didn't need to think much while in battle. Glancing down at his companion, he gave another sigh, slumping backwards to lean against the headboard. His back was starting to ache from the position he was in.

"Mhm…Yuu…?"

Shifting his eyes to look at the boy, he gave a grunt to Allen, indicating that he was listening. Allen let out a tired laugh, turning his head to look up at Kanda, whose eyes were still on his lover. "If…no, when the war ends, what would you want to do?"

Lifting an eyebrow, Kanda had to stop himself from snorting. When? Who knows when the holy war would end? Maybe if he was lucky, he would be able to find the man who made his life miserable before collapsing into a useless heap when his Lotus died out.

"Yuu?"

Realizing that Allen was waiting for an answer, he grunted again.

"That's not an answer…" Allen muttered, shifting so that he was in a more comfortable position. "Seriously."

Kanda frowned, his brows knitted together while he thought of it. The war was his life, he was born to fight and he never thought the war would end while he lived. "I…don't know. Never thought about it." He said finally, turning to look down at Allen. "And you?"

The white haired boy shrugged. "Maybe travel. I always wanted to travel the world without having Master's debtors chasing my behind, and no missions to complete while I just take some time to drink in the scenery and all that, you know?"

Kanda's eyes softened, humming his agreement. Time passed too fast while you were on a mission, not that Kanda ever thought of just stopping to enjoy the scenery, but he realized that Allen would do that a lot while he was on a mission with him.

"Would you go with me?"

The question caught Kanda off guard as he snapped his attention back to Allen, who was looking at him with his large, grey eyes, as though pleading for him to say yes.

"What?"

Honestly, Kanda thought that sometimes maybe being with Allen too long killed his rational thoughts too, because that was certainly not what he wanted to say. As he continued to just stare at Allen, he wondered if Allen would just ignore him for not answering the question.

But Allen's eyes closed as he let out a small smile. "Yeah, I know you would."

And sometimes, Kanda thinks it's good to know that Allen understood him despite the wrong choice of words that came out of his mouth.

"You wouldn't want to stay with Komui in that dark tower anyway, you might be subjected to more Komurins."

Or maybe not.

* * *

After Road had walked away, Tyki opened the door again, walking silently into the room, where Lavi still lied on the bed, staring up at the bare ceiling, his lone eye unfocused. The golden eyed man sank down onto the bed beside him, waiting for the redhead to break the silence, which he did eventually.

"Is she gone?" He asked, not looking at the man beside him.

Tyki nodded, leaning back onto the headboard behind him as he watch Lavi pull himself together, frowning when he noticed a shudder going through the ex-exorcist's frame. "Are you cold?"

Lavi shook his head, glaring at his hands when he noticed they were still shaking. He had never felt so vulnerable in his life, not even when Nyoibo was shattered in the Ark battle. Faintly he wondered if it was_ because_ the hammer wasn't with him that he felt this way.

"I'm fine." He said. "What did Allen want?" Lavi looked over his shoulder at the Portuguese man, seeing him shrug.

"Kanda-san took him back to the room to rest." Tyki replied. "Apparently, he was overworked."

The redhead let out a shaky laugh, nodding his head. "Yeah, I guess I could see that..." He frowned suddenly as he trailed off. Lavi suddenly remembered the incident at the office, where he saw Krory. Allen had said he didn't kill him, despite the fact that he threw the button back at the Black Order's cold stone floor, did he mean he didn't kill everyone else?

Shaking his head at this thought, he knows that he should probably just ask Allen about it the next time he saw him. Turning his head to Tyki, he gave him a grin.

"So...what are you doing here anyways?"

Tyki raised an eyebrow at the painfully, stupid question that had come out from the redhead's mouth. Surely he noticed that Tyki practically _stayed _in this room? But he shrugged it off, knowing it was perhaps the episode with Road that made him question the obvious. So he settled down to humor his companion.

"Dinner should be ready by now, are you coming down?"

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**Please review! :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello! It's been a long time! Thank you very much for reading this fic, whether you're an old reader or new. **

**Speacial thanks to _SisterWicked_, because her NG ficlette made me have some inspiration to start back on this fic, and I hope to have more updates within the next few months!**

**Also, thank you to those who review, pestering me to update since it's been a year (no I don't appreciate being pestered, no one does, but sometimes it's a motivation to see that many still want to read this story!) **

**I hope my writing skills have no deterioted TOO badly since I've stopped writing. Enjoy!**

**Unbeta-d. Feel free to point out grammar mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: DGM no belong to me.**

**Warnings: Noah!Exorcist. Yaoi. Shounen ai.**

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**16. Lurking**

The days continued to drag by in the old mansion, and honestly, Allen was starting to be more and more worried as the days passed. It wasn't as though everything was falling apart, but it wasn't as though everything was falling into place as smoothly as he expected it either. The search for Innocence had been going relatively well, considering the fact that General Cross was head of his little secret project, and hopefully all of it would be found soon.

The problem was keeping the Noah in the mansion.

Road and Lulubell have been getting restless with him not giving them any mission to terrorize the Exorcists that were dispatched from the Black Order, but he couldn't risk too much in the rare event that Leverrier actually grew a brain and had them trailed back to their hideout, but he couldn't keep them cooped up in the old building all the time.

Tyki on the other hand, clearly was not bothered by the fact at all. In fact, he'd been sticking closer to Lavi ever since the night that he sent the redhead to get Tyki for him. Something must have happened that night, but Allen was not able to figure it out. All he knew was that Road kept her distance from the pair, and he was sure that sometimes when Lavi saw Road, a glint of fear would appear in his lone emerald eye.

Setting down the many papers he held in his hand, Allen sighed as he pressed his fingers to his forehead, massaging it as he felt an oncoming headache. He really should start getting out of the stuffy mansion for some fresh air like Lavi had suggested.

"Allen?"

The British boy looked up as Miranda poked her head inside the room, silently asking for permission to enter. At his smile, Miranda came in, closing the door softly.

"Here are the reports you requested from the 'other' site. Everything seems to be running smoothly, and judging by the numbers we've calculated so far, it won't be long before it all comes together." The German Exorcist reported, her voice strong and confident, unlike the time when she first arrived.

Allen smiled softly. He was pleased that Miranda had stopped stuttering in his presence, and that she stood straighter now, ever since he dispatched her to Krory's camp site. It seems that working independently for a long period had her gaining more confidence.

"Thank you." Was all he said as he accepted the package from her, and she smiled back.

"Will that be all?" She asked.

"How long will the rest need for it to be completed?" Allen asked, scanning through the papers. "An estimate, I mean."

Miranda frowned, crossing her arms across her chest as she thought hard. "If we can continue ahead at this pace, I'd give an estimate of a few weeks, considering that all the hard ones have been found. But we can't say for sure."

The Exorcist-turned-Noah nodded tiredly. "I expected as much. We'll have to pick up pace, or just leave the rest for later. I can't afford to delay the plan much longer. It might go wrong."

Miranda sighed softly. "I understand."

* * *

Kanda stood outside the door, hand wavering above the silver knob that he took little time in admiring whenever he came into this part of the mansion. Today, however, he didn't feel like entering immediately after reaching the polished wooden door. Resisting the urge to sigh, he dropped his hands to the side, tucking them into his pants pocket. He knew why he was feeling this way, but couldn't bring himself to admit it, not when he had been denying it his whole life.

Heck, he was worried.

No, not for the beansprout that he grew so fond of, but rather, the rabbit who invaded his personal space every so often.

And that was precisely the problem right now. He hadn't seen Lavi in _days_. It was a rare occurrence for him to go through his days without the redhead turning up, unless he was on a mission somewhere. In fact, ever since he came to the mansion, the redhead had been appearing out of thin air just to torment him.

The redhead hadn't even been coming down for dinner these few nights. He vaguely remember it happening since the night he took Allen to bed before the British boy collapsed due to exhaustion. He also remembered Road stomping around the house loud enough for him to hear it, despite their room being at the other end of where the others were. The blond Noah, of which her name he occasionally remembered, was also sulking around the next morning when she came to get them for breakfast. Really, everyone was going into mood swings as far as the Japanese man saw it.

"Kanda-san?"

The smooth, deep voice of the Portuguese Noah snapped Kanda out of his thoughts, and he realized that he had been standing like an idiot in front of Allen's office door for quite a while now, if Tyki's face was any indication. The older man was frowning in what looked like concern, but there was also a touch of amusement in that golden brown eyes of his.

"Are you waiting for someone?" Tyki asked, motioning with his hand towards the door. "Allen is talking to Miranda now, if I'm not mistaken." He continued on, not waiting for Kanda's response as he raised his hand to knock.

"Che."

The Japanese man had no other comment, crossing his hands and following the Noah of Pleasure into the room after Allen had responded and asked them to come in. The British looked slightly surprised to see Kanda trailing in after Tyki, as he normally came in alone and earlier. If he had any remarks about that, he kept quiet.

"Good morning, Yuu, Tyki." Allen nodded at them, and Miranda gave them a small smile, bowing her head slightly. "Miranda and I were just about finish, if you'd wait a moment…"

Tyki chuckled lightly. "There's no rush, Allen."

Said boy nodded gratefully, and turned his attention back to Miranda, who started fidgeting lightly upon their entrance. It clearly indicated that she was still uncomfortable around the Noahs, despite her recent change that took place a while after she arrived. Her cross markings were hidden by her hair, and she was not too worried about it as people wouldn't see it. She did go into a panic frenzy after discovering that she was bleeding from her forehead during her transformation, and if Allen wasn't trying too hard to hide the grimace every time he took her pain for her, he would have been laughing at her expressions.

Kanda had been so annoyed at her that he actually snapped, telling her to start acting her age and be more confident instead of letting each and every little comment beat her down. In a way, it encouraged her to be what she was now, since she was so terrified at the Japanese youth when he threatened to run Mugen through her, activated or not. Needless to say, whenever he was in the room, all she wanted to do was run as far away as possible from him.

Allen, who noticed this fact, tried to remedy the situation between the two of them. They were both important to him after all, in more ways than one. And sometimes, Allen felt that to be kind, he had to be cruel.

"Alright Miranda, we're done. You can head back to Krory's campsite now." Allen said, tidying the documents on his table. "Yuu can guide you back to the Ark door, he knows where it is." The British boy continued on, smiling sweetly at the German woman, who paled.

"I-it's alright, A-Allen-k-kun, I can find m-my way back j-just fine!" Miranda stuttered, waving her hand frantically, mentally begging the boy to not do this to her.

"Oh, but I insist!" Allen widened his eyes dramatically. "What if you got lost, and ran into other Noahs instead, or worse, an Akuma?" He dropped his head in depression. "I'd never find you after, and they may neglect to tell me that one of my own is wandering around the mansion, and I probably won't find you, and Akuma may try to eat you, and-"

"Alright!" Miranda's face had paled further, imagining all the scenarios that Allen had pointed out. Rather than face the remaining Noahs, she's rather spend the five minute walk to the gate with Kanda Yuu.

Smirking at his successful act behind his palms, Allen shot her a grateful smile. "Thank you for putting me at ease, Miranda. Have a good day then." He shook her hand, taking in her defeated expression and posture, silently apologizing to her. "I shall see you soon."

Miranda nodded, turning towards Kanda, who had a slight frown on his face, but was posed to leave as per Allen's request. He silently wondered why the boy had sent him on this errand instead of Tyki, but decided to ask him later.

Smiling as they left the room, Allen's face turned solemn as Tyki took the seat that Miranda vacated. "I'm afraid things aren't going too well in the household, Allen."

Allen sighed deeply, leaning back against the leather chair to get more comfortable, as he was sure the topic they were about to breach was anything but that. "I understand. What are the concerns raised this time?" He asked, though he already suspected what they were.

Tyki hesitated, but opened his mouth to reply anyway. "They are concerned that you will be swayed back to the other side, as your lover is with you no matter which side you are on." The Portuguese man frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know why, boy, but I trust you on a complete different level as compared to them." He narrowed his eyes at Allen. "It isn't anything you're doing with your musician powers, are you?"

The white-haired boy shrugged, closing his eyes. "I find it impossible to manipulate people to trust me, Tyki. In fact, if it were possible at all, why didn't the 14th use it on the Earl?" Ignoring the slight stiffening at the mention of the Earl, Allen continued. "To manipulate ones tune is to replay a whole different melody, which is quite impossible for me to maintain as in the condition I am now." Opening his eyes to watch the Noah, Allen sighed again. "I'm tired, Tyki. No matter how much rest I get, I still feel like falling over every second. I don't understand myself, but right now, all I care about is the safety of my family."

"And it depends on which family you refer to, Allen Walker." Tyki said quietly, but he was sure the boy sitting opposite him heard it.

* * *

"Marian, will you _ever_ stop drinking and dirtying the paper work with whatever you stepped on?"

Cross Marian looked up from the piece of paper he was reading, his other hand occupied with a wine glass, while he took in the person standing in front of his desk. Smirking smugly, he raised his glass at her.

"Looking real fine there, Cloud."

Cloud Nine raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms as she did so, which made her look more intimidating, ignoring the scars that marred her perfectly shaped oval face. Her chest stood out even more after placing her arms underneath her bust, and Cross chuckled at her action, continuing to scan through the content of the report while sipping at his wine, only setting both items down once Cloud had taken a seat opposite him.

"What's the situation now?" Cross asked once she settled down. "It's either urgent enough to send you in person, or means your side is completed."

Cloud nodded. "It's completed. We've scanned our side of locations given, and uncovered everything we could." Pulling out a bundle of documents, she set it down in front of him. "Every detail is inside, and whatever we managed to secure is in 'that' place."

Untying the strings that held the papers together, Cross picked one at random and scanned the contents, eyes raised at some of the gruesome details inside. "I thought it would take less bloodshed than this to acquire one, since there are no Akuma after it already…"

"That's the urgent issue I need to discuss with you." Cloud replied, frowning deeply. "We were promised less to no interference from Akuma, but it seems that there is more appearing everywhere we go." She racked a hand through her hair, which she had let down ever since she left the Order. "I'm not blaming your disciple, but it seems that someone under him is not following his orders."

Placing the paper back on top of the pile, Cross nodded in agreement. "There _has_ been more Akuma appearing, despite the fact that the idiot has not been producing them. I suspect it's one of the Noah under his command as you said." Picking up the wine glass he previously set down, he sipped on the red liquid while he thought. "That idiot probably wouldn't notice, given the fact that he can't control their movement too strictly. It would raise too much suspicion."

"One of them may already suspect him, and that's why orders are being defied." Cloud inserted her thought, leaning back against the chair she sat on.

"At least your side is done." Cross commented, sitting up straighter. "Have you brought your site down to mine then?"

Cloud nodded. "Everyone has gathered here. The wounded are getting treated, while the rest are helping around as needed."

"Then we're left with the remaining two sites to gather, and we can get everything moving, finally."

Cloud sighed deeply. "I never thought I'd live to see this day come at all."

Cross, for the first time in his life, gave a small smile to Cloud. "No one did, Cloud. No one did."

* * *

"Usagi."

Lavi let loose an ear splitting scream when Kanda's hand landed on his shoulder, and the Japanese youth fought hard not to wince at the sheer volume of the redhead's voice. He may as well been screaming_ bloody murde_r right into his eardrums.

"Oi!" Kanda gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the pain in his ear as he turned Lavi around to face him. "What the **fuck**? Get a hold of yourself, idiot!"

Lavi's eye remained wide with fear as he blinked a few times to clearly see who stood before him. Taking in the familiar long black hair and those burning charcoal eyes, Lavi visibly relaxed and gave a big sigh.

"Geez, Yuu-chan!" Lavi laughed awkwardly. "Don't sneak up on people like that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"No shit." Kanda retorted, letting his hand fall from his friend's shoulder. "What the hell was that about? You never did that before." _Not even when you were Deak._

Lavi chuckled, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Eh, nothing serious. I just had a bad dream, that's all."

Ever the smooth liar. That was one of the quirks of being Bookman, Kanda thought.

Ever since his confrontation about Deak with Bookman, Kanda couldn't help but noticed and compare the similarities between the two alias. It would seem like he was looking at Deak again, though he was now older. Kanda realized what Bookman had meant when he said 'Lavi' as a person carried too much emotion. It wasn't that 'Lavi' was too attached to his current alias, as a person, Lavi was just naturally like **that**, and it showed in the only two alias that Kanda had ever seen. Deak was like that too, outgoing and always invading personal space. He vaguely wondered why none of the people who knew Deak ever mentioned him.

Then again, Bookman did say they were sworn to secrecy.

"Yuu-chan?" Lavi waved a hand in his face. "You okay?"

Kanda snapped out his thoughts for the second time that day. It seems like he was getting lost in thoughts too often. "I'm fine." He muttered, frowning at the redhead. "What's wrong with you?"

"Huh? I'm fine too, why are you asking?" Lavi raised an eyebrow. It wasn't everyday that Kanda Yuu asked someone what was wrong with their person. "Did I do anything wrong?"

Kanda snorted. "It's the fact that you hadn't, and that's why it's wrong."

"Eh? You mean I have to do something wrong to be right?" Lavi tilted his head to the side, clearly confused. "Yuu-chan, you're not making any sense here."

"Idiot." The Japanese man sighed, grabbing Lavi's arm, he dragged his best friend into the room, knowing everyone would be getting ready for lunch about this time. "Look, there's obviously something wrong with you, even the beansprout noticed."

Lavi swallowed nervously, even the kid had noticed. Great.

"So either you start talking, or I start slicing." Kanda threatened, drawing out Mugen from God knows where. Lavi _swears_ he didn't see the black katana anywhere on Kanda's person when he appeared.

* * *

Linali sighed in frustration as she sat down on the bench nearby, downing her water as she continued to supervise the new recruits training on the grass. She sorely missed a certain redhead's enthusiasm right now, watching the new recruits as they stumbled everywhere awkwardly while activating their Innocence. At times like these she wished she were more intimidating like Kanda, just so they would actually _listen_ to her instructions. They were going about it like kids, and at the rate they were going, the war would likely end before they could be any use.

"Linali Lee, they are waiting for you." Inspector Link stood beside her, having to stand guard over her ever since the disappearance of Allen Walker. Leverrier seemed to think that after Kanda and Lavi, the next to join Allen would be her.

Joining Allen sounded so much like a better option right now, Linali thought bitterly. It would beat having a 24 hour surveillance over her, and she now understood why even the sweet tempered Allen Walker could lose his temper over this issue.

Link, she noticed, had been frowning more and more lately. More than when he was guarding Allen, in fact. It seems that his own duties were adding a lot more weight to his shoulders. His posture was forever rigid and his back too straight, his mouth seem to be a permanent line with his frowning, and she thinks that his wrinkles would be more permanent then the two dots on his forehead now, not that she would ever say it to his face.

But really, he was getting more stressed out each time she saw him.

Nevertheless, she ignored all the obvious signs that he was getting more worn out each day, because there wasn't anything she could do after all. It was Leverrier's orders which were making him so, and sometimes, she just wished Allen had taken them both together out of this hellhole the Vatican called home for them.

"I understand." Linali replied, setting down her water while she stood up and stretched. "I don't know what he's expecting, but at the rate they're going? We might as well be shorthanded again."

As she stood and walked away, she missed the quiet mutter by the man himself.

"Indeed. Allen Walker may as well be able to take down the Order with closed eyes, with this kind of recruits we're taking in."

The puppets were dancing on the stage God calls life, but will they continue dancing, or will they fall and break?

* * *

**Thank you for reading! Please review! (:**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello again! I have decided to try to stick to once a month updates! :)**

**Again, no proofread was done in any way, except by myself. Feel free to point out grammar mistakes!**

**To my beloved reviewers, _SisterWicked, xXShadowDreamerXx, Digimagic, Animeloverx175, midnightcrescent27, HikariP5_ (btw, I do have a fetish for Allen bearing all the burden? XD), thank you very much for the lovely reviews. Sorry I couldn't reply to you before this!**

**Unbeta-d. Feel free to point out grammar mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: DGM no belong to me.**

**Warnings: Noah!Exorcist. Yaoi. Shounen ai.**

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**17. Interuptions**

Komui was smiling today, the Science Department noticed. Actually, he was grinning like a mad man, or a lunatic. While it was a normal occurrence back in the old days, Komui grinning was now like a sign that gave a red alert to all members in the department.

"Chief is on the high. I repeat, Chief is on the high!" Johnny whispered heatedly, bringing the stack of documents away from Komui's table, for fear that the Chinese man might do something damaging to it. If Komui noticed his action, he didn't comment on it. Instead, he laughed gleefully to himself, further encouraging the rest of the members to stay far away from him. He didn't remember when he last felt so happy since Leverrier overtook command in Black Order.

Wait, he was never happy at all since that time. Oh well.

Burying his head into his arms in front of him, he sighed contently. Timcanpy had somehow miraculously acquired some recordings during the period between last night and this morning without raising any suspicions, and after watching it in Hevlaska's chambers, where no surveillance camera of any sort was installed due to fear that it would cause interference to the Innocence, he had felt so happy that he was practically floating on cloud nine.

Cloud nine?

Komui imagined himself flying atop the blonde haired General, spitting out his coffee that he had taken in laughter. He could also imagine the General killing him for even thinking such a thought!

Reever, Johnny and the rest of the department stared oddly at their Head, wondering what it was that made him so happy all of a sudden. Linali hadn't even arrived with their morning coffee today, and that normally triggered his 'happy brother-complex' mode. However, it had toned down ever since Leverrier came. Deciding that the Chief was either overworked or finally gone off the rocker, Reever approached the Chinese man slowly, ignoring the warnings from his other friends.

"Chief?" Reever questioned, inching closer to the hard, wooden desk in which Komui sat at. "Are you…okay?"

Glancing up from his coffee, which had gone stale and was also one of the reasons he had to spit it out, he raised an eyebrow. "Reever, why wouldn't I be?" He glanced around at his department, noticing that some swallowed nervously when his eyes landed on them. Did he do something wrong?

"Eh, well…You were acting really off just now." Reever commented, fidgeting with his collar. "And we were just wondering if you finally cracked." He added bluntly. The Chinese man had known Reever since he started working in the Black Order, and knew his personality after all.

Komui stared at his Section Chief for what seemed like forever, before he doubled over and started laughing again. Reever sighed deeply, putting a palm on his head for patience as whenever he did when he dealt with the highly volatile Branch Chief that was his friend. Waiting patiently for the man behind the desk to stop laughing, Reever noticed Timcampy peeking out from behind the Chinese man's shoulder. Smiling lightly, he beckoned the golden golem over, and to his surprise, it did.

"Well Tim, it's been a while since we last saw you." Reever said softly, tickling the golem with his finger. Timcanpy had been a constant presence at Allen's side and wherever it was, you would surely find the white haired boy near it. "Don't you think Komui's finally cracked?"

The golden golem nuzzled Reever's face from its position on the man's shoulder, as though he was agreeing with whatever that was said, and that made the Australian man chuckled. Wincing slightly when Timcanpy bit his finger, he went back to watching the Branch Chief compose himself. Wondering what stopped his sudden outburst, he realized that it was almost the time when Leverrier would make his appearance. The man always had something about punctuality when dealing with them, and always made his appearance at this time of the morning, right before Linali came in with coffee.

"Chief, the reports that you need are with Johnny." Reever stated, handing over a few of the papers he was holding. "And it is almost time for-"

Komui nodded, and Reever was vaguely amused and surprised to see that some of the mirth was still contained in his eyes. It was like knowing a secret that no one else knew, and the man couldn't help but have a bit of hope that Komui had something up his sleeve in getting them all out of this mess that the Vatican had created.

* * *

Lately, Allen always felt that someone was watching him from behind the shadows, but whenever he turned, he couldn't pinpoint the source of this eerie feeling. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand, like Goosebumps. He once mentioned it to Kanda, and although the Japanese youth had scoffed and told him it was his imagination, he noticed that his lover was keeping a closer watch on his surroundings. Lavi had mentioned feeling the same, only the difference was that Tyki was the one watching out for his redhead friend. He sometimes wondered when the two of them would wake up and just admit that they felt something for each other already.

Allen flinched when the feeling returned. It was making him feel paranoid again.

"Moyashi?"

Jumping slightly at the voice, Allen turned to see Kanda standing at the doorway, eyes narrowed dangerously. His dark black eyes were scanning the room quietly, noticing the stiff way that Allen held himself; he suspected something was bothering the younger boy.

"Come here." Kanda motioned, and Allen complied hurriedly. Brandishing his black katana, which pulsed lightly at being held again, he made a sweeping motion right behind Allen's chair where he sat moments ago.

"Kanda, what-"

Before Allen could complete his sentence, a loud shriek broke through the air. The sound was so high that it forced Allen to instantly cover his ears, wincing at it as it sounded like nails against a blackboard. Kanda remained motionless, though his eye twitched at the annoyance of it. He held Allen securely against his chest, covering the white haired boy as much as he could while his blade was still pointed at where he had cut.

The horrible noise ceased after a few minutes, and when Allen finally looked up from where his head was held down by Kanda, he realized that the noise had attracted almost everyone in the household, as they were all standing at the doorway to his office right now.

"What happened?" Lavi asked, his eye wide with concerned. "We heard this freaky screaming coming from your office and-"

"It sounded a lot like Lero though." Road cut in, raising an eyebrow.

The umbrella golem had gone missing ever since the Earl was vanquished, and Road had been hunting high and low for it, hoping that the golem had survived and was well. However, this would be the first time she ever mentioned him since then. Lulubell didn't comment on it, but she was eyeing the chair which the sound emitted from with interest.

Kanda pushed Allen towards Tyki, who held him in place of the Japanese youth, as he slowly inched towards the chair. He tilted the chair backwards with Mugen, wincing slightly when a lower tone of the shriek sounded again. It really was grating on his nerves now.

"That HURT! Lero!"

Before anyone could do so much as breathe, the umbrella golem appeared from behind the chair, glaring at Kanda, who looked taken back.

"Why did you do that! Lero!" The golem did not look amused at all. It went towards Kanda and started shouting in his face, which actually would be amusing if Kanda didn't look like he was going to chop the golem up if he didn't retreat soon.

"Lero!" Road exclaimed, moving forward to grab the golem away before Kanda could do any hard to it. "I've been looking all over for you!" The girl squealed happily, waving the umbrella golem everywhere, though careful not to hit anyone nearby. "Where have you been?"

Lero groaned, not liking the way Road was treating it, which was the same as usual. "Around. Lero."

"Were you the one watching us from the shadows lately?" Tyki asked, narrowing his eyes.

Lero grinned evilly, as it always did when it was happy or mischievous. "What if I was? Lero!"

"Then I'll cut you to pieces right now." Kanda growled, grabbing the back of the pumpkin head, while brandishing the black blade right beside it. "Say your prayers."

"Kanda!" Allen placed a hand on the one holding the blade. "Calm down. It's alright now."

"I duno, beansprout." Lavi commented. "It seems pretty fishy. Why does that pumpkin appear now, all of a sudden?"

Tyki stayed silent as Road took the umbrella golem out of the room, with Lulubell trailing behind her. As much as Allen would like to deny any possibilities of his plans backfiring, the appearance of Lero was an omen. An omen he couldn't afford to have anytime soon.

"Honestly, I'm not sure." Allen replied instead, shaking his head. "But the feeling of being watched has worn off, so I'm guessing it really was Lero who was watching us."

"I get that and all, but why was he watching us?" Lavi pondered, looking towards Tyki. "Anything you know?"

The Portuguese man shook his head. "The only thing I know about that thing, is that wherever the Earl is, it's with him."

Allen frowned. "At any rate, we'll keep an eye to see how things go."

"What will happen if the Earl really returns? Will you still stay? Will we stay?" Lavi questioned quietly.

And for once, Allen could not answer his friend. Not even with a lie. The three people in the room continued to silently stare at the younger boy, and he merely shook his head.

"We'll deal with it when the time comes."

* * *

Kanda closed the door to the bedroom quietly, before heading down the hallways towards a certain redhead's room. Knocking lightly on the polished wood, he waited until it creaked open.

"Yuu-chan?"

Not waiting for a reply, Lavi opened the door for the Japanese youth to enter. Looking up, Kanda realized that Tyki was nowhere to be found. Lavi noticed his questioning glance, and smiled slightly.

"He decided to check and see what he could find out about that golem appearing again." He explained, motioning for Kanda to sit wherever he wanted.

Nodding his head, Kanda settled at the foot of the bed, crossing his arms as he did so. "Did she bother you again?" He asked, looking straight at his friend, however reluctant he was to admit.

The redhead smiled softly, shaking his head. "Nah. She doesn't come near me, Tyki wouldn't let her either ever since that night."

Disregarding the fact that Kanda had to force it out of him, Lavi really felt better after telling Kanda what had occurred the other night with Road. He couldn't help but jump at every little sound after that, but since he told his best friend, he was more calmed and stopped being so jumpy.

Kanda snorted. "Why don't you just tell him already?"

"Him?" Lavi raised an eyebrow. "Tell who what?"

The Japanese youth sighed, rubbing his head at the oncoming headache he knew was going to come after talking to the redhead. "That Noah. I'm pretty sure you have feelings for him." Kanda said, his expression turning sour as he had to spell it out to the oblivious friend.

"What!" Lavi, trying to deny the fact, could not hide the blush that threatened to turn redder on his cheeks. " I do _**not**_."

Kanda merely raised an eyebrow. He really didn't believe he was having this conversation with Lavi right now. "Che. Deny it all you want, stupid rabbit brat."

Lavi continued to splutter even as Kanda rose from the bed. "I'm going back to bed now." With that, he strode out of the room, leaving Lavi to his own devices again. The poor redhead continued to open and close his mouth like a goldfish, staring at the door which Kanda did not shut. Shutting his mouth, Lavi stood to close the door, but not before he had his last words.

"I do**_ not_** have those kind of _feelings_ towards him!"

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**Please review! (:**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello! I do realize it has been a long time since I've updated. Again, I hope my writing skills have not died since the last time I wrote. **

**Thank you for those who reviewed and I apologize for not replying! And thank you for reading my story, I will try my best to keep it coming!**

**Unbeta-d. Feel free to point out grammar mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: DGM no belong to me.**

**Warnings: Noah!Exorcist. Yaoi. Shounen ai.**

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The night was cold, colder than any other previous ones, he noticed. Cursing under his breath, Allen pulled the sheets closer as he huddled beneath them, secretly wishing that a certain someone would hurry up and return to bed like he had promised he would.

"BaKanda…" Allen muttered, closing his eyes as he tried to get some rest.

As he had once mentioned to Tyki, his body felt heavy no matter how much rest he took, and he was beginning to feel more than a little annoyed about his situation. For the life of him, he could not figure out the reason for it and Lavi was still getting nowhere with his research on the matter. Bookman could barely answer him too, as this situation was the first he had ever encountered.

Burrowing himself deeper into the sheets, he attempted to ignore the heaviness of his body and the coldness of the night. Winter was approaching soon, and the mansion had no heating system as far as he was aware of. Perhaps he should consider investing in one, Allen thought vaguely as he turned to his side. The others in the household did not feel the cold as badly as he did, which he knew stemmed mainly due to the fatigue he could not get rid of. That was another reason why he was annoyed at his body, he was beginning to feel the effects of taking in so much of the pain of the transformations previously. He was just thankful that no one else seemed to be transforming anymore.

"Moyashi?"

The door creaked open slightly and Allen lifted his head to see the long haired Japanese walking in. The man's face was tinted with a faint blush, indicating that he had been out in the cold night training, as what he did recently since Allen was insistent that Kanda need not stay beside him twenty four seven. Allen grinned weakly when the light switch was flipped on, wincing only slightly when the bright light invaded his vision. If Kanda noticed it, he did not say anything but crossed the room and sat down beside the British boy, pulling him up and close as a gesture of apology as he pressed the boy's head onto his shoulder to block out the light.

"You're late." Allen mumbled into the thin fabric of Kanda's sleeveless shirt where he was pressed against.

"Che."

Despite the fact that Kanda had been training out in the cold, his body was warm, warmer than the sheets that were currently wrapped around him, Allen thought, as he wrapped his arms around the other's waist. Surprisingly, the older youth did not push him away like he normally would. Instead, he draped his arm around the smaller teen, letting him indulge in whatever he was doing. Allen smiled softly and closed his eyes, tightening his grip just a bit before sighing in content.

"…When will we need to go?"

Dark blue eyes stared down at the lump of grey hair on his shoulder, and Kanda shifted slightly to get more comfortable in their position. Allen remained silent however, even as Kanda pulled him back towards the headboard, deciding he might as well get more settled down. They didn't look as though they were going anywhere anytime soon. Kicking off his boots while still holding onto Allen, Kanda leaned back and pulled the sheet that Allen had not wrapped around himself over them. Frowning, Kanda realized that he would be leaving the bed later on to clean up, but he really could not care less at the moment when Allen suddenly spoke.

"The deadline would be in a week." He muttered tiredly. "The plan still has a lot of loopholes, and I'm not confident enough to execute it without assistance from the other side either." Lifting his head slightly, Allen sighed. "I'm not sure if they will have wrapped up the work there, but they know to come over here in four days. I'll probably run it over with them at that point, and hopefully we'll have it done by the end of the week."

Kanda grunted in acknowledgement, shifting slightly so Allen was leaning onto him in a more comfortable position, which made Allen grinned. The older youth may have been doing things unconsciously, he thought happily as he adjusted the position of his head. The silence was comfortable, despite the heavy thoughts in their heads, and Kanda was concern that the time they had was a little too short. He had been there during the planning, and knew most of the strategy, which every ex-Exorcists had contributed to. Lavi had been concerned that the layout of the Headquarters was a bit too new and too foreign, rendering home advantage to the minimum, in which Allen had countered with the fact that most of the Black Order people were in the same boat. Bookman had agreed with Allen's logic, and Lavi reluctantly backed down. Kanda was in the same opinion as the redhead, though he kept his view silent as he knew Allen would still be cautious about that fact.

"_They would have time to explore and cover ground." Allen said. "But there is only so much a human can remember in that time we are giving them, and the new recruits will be too busy fending off the Akuma they won't have time to think about the layout they memorized." The British boy took out a few reports then, distributing the papers to the people present. "The Black Order has yet to find any new Exorcists since they moved, and I doubt any that they recruit will make a difference, so we're still facing the same numbers of Exorcists as they last had." Pausing for a while as he tried to remember how many Exorcists they had, Lavi answered for him._

"_They have only a bare minimum of twenty Exorcists left." The redhead said. "Counting the fact that half of that are new recruits, we're facing about ten experienced, battle hardened Exorcists."_

_Allen nodded his thanks, and the meeting was resumed._

That had been two weeks ago, and in that two weeks, the Innocence hunt had resumed, and so far everything was going smoothly. Everyone in the mansion was getting restless though, and Allen was getting a bit worried with the atmosphere. Although Tyki did not mention any more incidents happening, Kanda was certain that the dispute within the family was still ongoing. The Portuguese was doing a good job handling it, but it would only be a matter of time before all hell broke loose in the mansion. Allen was well aware of that, hence setting the deadline which he did. They could not afford to drag the plan any longer than that without the risk of an internal war.

"_Soshite bouya wa nemuri ni tsuitte…"_

The Japanese youth was startled from his thoughts when Allen quietly sung the musician's song, his eyes still close and expression peaceful. His eyes softened when he noticed that the younger teen was not in pain as he first feared, and he relaxed as he listened to the quite lullaby. After a few minutes, the song halted and Kanda opened his eyes. He smiled slightly when he realized Allen had fallen asleep.

"Che. " Leaning down and kissing the top of his head, Kanda slid out of bed quietly, wrapping the extra sheet around the teen so he would not be cold. "Looks like it's gonna snow tonight." The man thought to himself as he walked out.

* * *

"ACHOO!"

Lavi swiped his nose with the tissue that was offered to him, which he accepted gratefully. His companion was trying to stifle his laughter at the sight before him, and was doing a very bad job at it. The redhead attempted a glare, but with his tousled bed hair and red face, he only succeeded in making his companion bite his lip harder at the attempt to not laugh.

"Oh, Lavi." Tyki snickered, replacing the cloth on Lavi's forehead to bring down his fever and sticking a thermometer in his mouth. "I did warn you that playing too long in the cold would make you sick."

"Mm' not s'ck." Lavi muttered around the thermometer, glaring at his caretaker again. "Mm' perfe'tly hea'thy."

Tyki plucked the thermometer from his mouth when the reading was complete and shook his head. "So I see." He muttered as he got up to wash the tool. "Looks like you won't be getting up anytime soon though."

Lavi protested weakly from the bed by trying to kick off the heavy covers which Tyki had laid on him. "Mm' not s'ck!" He mumbled miserably. Lavi really did look the image of a rabbit brat right now, as Kanda liked to call him, Tyki mused as he brought a bowl of soup to the bedside.

"Alright, so eat up and get better soon."

Lavi mumbled but opened his mouth obediently as Tyki fed him, all the while swearing revenge on the Portuguese who pushed him into the ice cold river in the first place. If Tyki heard it, he gave no indication but continued to feed his sick companion, when a knock came on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and Kanda walked in, raising an eyebrow only slightly at the scene before him. Lavi groaned and waved at his best friend, grinning like an idiot.

"H'y Yuu-ch'n." He slurred.

His raised eyebrow got higher, but Kanda decided he didn't care either way and schooled his expression before sitting down on the chair opposite the bed, silently nodding at Tyki who smiled back at him eeven as he placed the bowl of soup down on the table.

"Kanda-san, how may we assist you today?"

Lavi pushed himself upright at the question as he regarded his best friend, and Kanda sighed quietly when the redhead grinned.

"Problems at paradise?" Lavi joked, and Kanda glared at him.

"Che, no. Was there any problems outside today?"

"Problems?" Tyki echoed and sighed. "Are you talking about the massive amount of Akuma appearing out of nowhere?"

Kanda nodded, resting his head against his hand which he propped up on the chair's side. "The reports coming in have been more frequent, that Akumas have been appearing where we did not dispatch them." He spared a glance at Lavi's glazed look and sighed again. "Go to sleep, rabbit. Tyki can update you later."

Lavi nodded wearily, but his eye remained open even after he lied down. He shifted his position so that he could still hear and see Kanda, and the Japanese turned back to Tyki. "Beansprout has too much of other things on his hands, and this is a matter that has not been resolved at all since it started."

Tyki nodded his agreement. "That being said, we really have not much suspects do we?" Raking a hand through his hair, the Noah gave a crooked smile. "After all, there are only three other people who can create Akuma apart from you three."

Kanda nodded again. "The question is, who, and why are they disobeying a direct order from him."

"How do we know it's not all of them?" Lavi asked. "Apart from Tyki, since he's always with me anyway." The redhead continued, looking at the mentioned man. "Right?"

Tyki shrugged. "I'm sure Kanda-san will still consider me a suspect despite that."

"Che."

"But what Lavi said has logic, it is possible it's a collaboration." Tyki said. "Actually, I'm pretty sure it's a collaboration now. It's pointless to move on their own, too much time wasted hiding it. But the other two have not been talking much to me lately, and I've not monitored their movements either."

Irritated, but nonetheless feeling better that the situation was moving forward, Kanda stood up and made his way to the door. "We can start by monitoring their movements first. I'll update beansprout on the situation and we'll go from there."

Tyki smiled. "Agreed. Goodnight, Kanda-san."

"Hn."

As soon as Kanda was out the door, Lavi grinned widely, giggling slightly while turning to look at Tyki, who could not help but give him a weird look.

"What are you laughing at now?"

Lavi laughed quietly. "Tyki, if Yuu-chan suspected you, he wouldn't have laid out the situation like that in front of you just now." He smiled softly then, his eye sliding shut. "He's always been like that, making people think the opposite. Really, he hasn't changed at all."

After getting over the shock of that discovery, Tyki could only respond with a smile. As Lavi settled down in bed and dozed off, Tyki couldn't help but feel worried about what was discussed. He had a lot on his mind right now, in between worrying for Lavi and random Akumas appearing and ambushing them, he was also debating his position in his family, and about what Road said that Lavi would be his downfall if he got too attached.

"_But it's already too late."_ Tyki thought, glancing at the redhead. _"I fell too deep and too fast, and the Noah within me is screaming that he is the one that will make me whole. I want him, and I also need him."_

**WANT.**

A searing pain went through his head and Tyki groaned quietly, trying hard to not disturb his slumbering companion as he clutched his head with both his hands, willing the pain to go away.

**NEED. NOW.**

"Not yet." Tyki muttered, grounding his teeth so hard he could imagine it breaking. "I will not let you break him."

**WANT. WANT. WANT. NEED. NEED. NEED.**

"Quiet." The man snapped, glaring at the mirror opposite him where the image of his Noah was reflected. "He needs rest and you are not helping."

The reflection's eyes widened and then narrowed, its eyes glowing a harsh, bright gold, as though trying to will Tyki into bending to its wishes. Tyki sighed heavily and glared harder.

"Quiet down. We will have him. Soon."

And then it was gone.

* * *

The office was quiet in this time of night, Komui mused as he continued to read the report he held in his hands. Sipping his coffee, he wondered where his beloved sister was. She did mentioned that she was going to visit him tonight, but she had yet to arrive and he was getting just a tad worried, it was not like her to be tardy.

"Reever?"

The Australian man looked up from where he was, seated comfortably on the sofa opposite of Komui, with stacks and stacks of reports surrounding him, he was literally buried in the papers. "Yes?"

"Has Linali dropped by yet?"

Reever shook his head, and looked towards Johnny, who also shook his head. "Are we expecting her to? I thought she was busy training the new recruits." Johnny replied.

"Hmm." Komui frowned, before dropping his head onto the table. "But I miss my adorable sister…" He whined, rubbing his face against the desk while Reever sighed.

"Chief, you're dirtying the reports there." Reever pointed out. "And Tim is trying to get your attention."

Komui looked up at that, and the golden golem was bitting his hair quite violently, if he may add, and it continued to tug until it became quite painful.

"All right, all right!" The Chinese man pushed the golem away from him gently and got up, stretching a little before grinning at the golem. "Let's go then."

"Chief?"

Komui grinned brightly and waved Reever's concern off. "I'm fine, Tim just wants me to take a walk. Seems to think its my mother now or something." He muttered jokingly, even as the golem tried to take a bite at him at that remark.

Watching the man walk out of the room, Reever and Johnny looked at each other before shrugging, not seeming to be much concerned at that. Johnny agreed that Komui was indeed spending too much time inside the room looking over the paperwork, but Reever felt as though something else was going on, and again, he couldn't help but hope that the man had something up his sleeves to save them all.

Even if the world plunges into the darkness, God will always have a light waiting for those who believe and hope.

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**Please review! :)**


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